


when you look at me (baby, i’m speechless)

by jjokkiri



Category: X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Denial of Feelings, Dongpyo Exists For A Few Sentences Too, Fluff, Hangyul Is Equally As Stupid Though, Honestly Seungyoun Is Stupid To A Fault, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Sexual Humor, Minor Han Seungwoo/Kim Yohan, Misunderstandings, Pining, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, There Are Many Beds But They Will Share, This Is Halfway Between An Office AU and a Destination Romance AU, Vacation, Younyohangyul Are Best Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25556521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: Seungyoun’s life turns upside down when he’s assigned to cover forMr. Lovein the magazine’s romance advice department for a week because he doesn’t have an ounce of experience in love. But thankfully, he’ll be on vacation and far away from all of his problems at the end of the week. Right?Alternatively:Seungyoun’s childhood friend asks him for dating advice and Seungyoun misreads all the clues.Every single one.
Relationships: Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Lee Hangyul
Comments: 11
Kudos: 68
Collections: Different Pools Fic Fest





	when you look at me (baby, i’m speechless)

**Author's Note:**

> **#036:** The regular writer for the romance advice column is sick for the week, and Seungyoun gets assigned to cover. He is a sports writer and has no clue what to do. To his surprise, one of his longtime friends A has sent in a question…
> 
>  _A tragic apology to the prompter:_ I am so sorry. This is not what you asked for. And I should probably be ashamed, but I do sincerely hope you enjoy what your prompt has inspired.
> 
> Title from WOODZ’s _Love Me Harder_.

The blinds on the window in the office are broken, they simply won’t close. They’re stuck—jammed—in their slightly crooked position above the window, and the plastic slats look miserable as they try to block the sun out of his eyes. It doesn’t work. It barely helps. His manager keeps promising to get the blinds fixed to protect his eyes, but it’s been several months and Cho Seungyoun doesn’t think it’ll happen any time soon. He can’t hope that the blinds will fix themselves, so he suffers. In the late hours of the afternoon, the sun blazes in Seungyoun’s eyes and he feels like he might die (or go blind) if he keeps squinting at his desktop computer in an attempt to outdo the effect of the glare from the sun.

The only thing that is brighter than the sunlight blazing in his eyes is the bright smile on his boss’ face when he slides into the office and nearly skids to a stop in front of Seungyoun’s desk. Lee Dongwook leans against the partition propped up on Seungyoun’s desk and positively _beams_ at him.

Seungyoun stops typing on his computer and looks up, confused. Dongwook isn’t a stoic boss by any means, but the smile is almost uncharacteristically thrilled. Seungyoun feels like he might be set up for a trap.

“How can I help?” he asks. Almost humorously, Seungyoun looks like a helpless meerkat with his hands paused just above his keyboard, eyes wide with interest.

“I have great news for you,” Dongwook says. He’s smiling so brightly that the crinkles by his eyes are emphasized. He looks so bright that Seungyoun firmly believes that he rivals the sun. And Seungyoun would _much_ rather look at Dongwook than have sunlight scorching his retinas.

Seungyoun closes the tab of the football match that he is currently monitoring and turns his full attention to Dongwook. He lowers his hands back onto the keyboard (instead of hanging midair) and blinks.

“What’s the news?” he asks.

Dongwook smiles at him. It’s so warm that, for a moment, although he has no idea what’s coming, Seungyoun feels like his father is smiling at him proudly and he feels a little touched.

Dongwook says, “Firstly, we got your vacation request approved. You’re good to go next week.”

 _“Oh!”_ Seungyoun exclaims. His eyes brighten, “That’s great! Thanks, hyung.”

It’s always the same deal.

Seungyoun _knows_ his vacation requests are easily approved because he’s halfway to being a workaholic and he rarely asks for time off, but Seungyoun was afraid that his vacation request wouldn’t be approved because he already took time off earlier in the year for personal reasons. A request to go on a summer retreat with his best friends isn’t something that they _need_ to permit him for. But he works in sports reporting and the magazine doesn’t actually _need_ the column to be actively reporting in the off-season. It’s summertime and there aren’t very many active sports leagues. They don’t really _need_ him.

Dongwook beams.

“You’re welcome,” he says, smoothly. He pauses, “There’s more.”

Seungyoun blinks. He tilts his head, “Good news?”

Dongwook hesitates. He chuckles, “Yes, of course.”

Seungyoun looks at him doubtfully. His hesitation doesn’t help his cause.

“What is it?”

“You’re going to be temporarily reassigned to a different department for the week before you leave, Seungyoun,” Dongwook says. “Minhyuk called in this morning to tell me that he’s _extremely_ sick and he can’t come into work for the week. He says it’s _awful_ and he thinks he’s contagious. He was wheezing over the phone, and it sounded like he was on his deathbed.”

Seungyoun pauses.

He blinks, hard.

“I’m being reassigned?” he asks, “To a different department?”

“Yes,” Dongwook says. He taps his fingers against the top of the partition, thinking. He continues, “There aren’t very many sports to report on these days, so you’re probably bored out of your mind.”

 _He isn’t wrong._ Seungyoun frowns. _There isn’t much to do in the off-season._

But whether or not Dongwook is right, Seungyoun still doesn’t know what department he’s being moved to. His specialization is in sports and he doesn’t think he is very qualified to be working in any other department if they don’t tie into sports. He trusts Dongwook’s judgement, but he’s suspicious.

“Where am I going?” he asks.

Dongwook beams at him, “You can actually keep working from your desk if you’re more comfortable working here!” He glances at blinds on Seungyoun’s window, “Unless you want to avoid _that_. Minhyuk said you can move into his office for the week if you want.”

It belatedly registers in his mind that Dongwook already mentioned a name.

 _Minhyuk? Lee Minhyuk?_ Seungyoun pales.

“Who?”

“You’re going to be covering for Minhyuk for the week before you leave. He should be good to work again next week, I think. He says that if you _absolutely_ need help, you can text him and he should be able to answer,” Dongwook explains. “It shouldn’t be too hard, though.”

Seungyoun blinks rapidly.

“Minhyuk, like, _Lee Minhyuk?_ ” he asks.

He feels like his ears are deceiving him. His ears must be deceiving him unless their magazine recently got a new intern by that name—which he knows they didn’t because Seungyoun makes an effort to befriend _all_ their interns. Seungyoun thinks he feels his bloodstream running cold at the thought of covering for Minhyuk.

But no intern would have an office that is better than Seungyoun’s shitty little cubicle. His cubicle’s blinds are crappy, but it isn’t _that_ shitty. He wouldn’t choose an intern’s tiny cubicle over _his_ cubicle. His boss wouldn’t offer to let him switch with an intern’s cubicle.

Dongwook blinks at him.

“Yes,” he says. He has a funny smile on his lips and he sounds uncertain. He looks confused—almost as if he is concerned that Seungyoun isn’t following along with him. “Lee Minhyuk. We only have one person by that name in the office, Seungyoun.”

Seungyoun stares at him. _Ah yes, his blood runs cold at the mere thought._

As calm as his thoughts are, though, he doesn’t react as calmly.

“You’re sending me to the _Romance Advice_ column?” he asks. He tries his best to not look too shocked, but he swears he feels himself gaping in horror at his boss. “I’m being reassigned to cover for _Mr. Love_?”

Dongwook nods his head. “Yes,” he says. He is smiling and he looks delighted, almost pleasantly relieved that Seungyoun has finally caught on. “You’re going to be _Mr. Love_ for a week!”

Seungyoun’s stare turns horrified. His jaw drops.

“Hyung!” he exclaims, “I don’t know anything about love!”

Dongwook laughs, “You’re going to be fine! It’s just for a week.”

Seungyoun blinks at him, baffled. He stammers out, “Hyung, I’m a sports reporter! I don’t know how to write about love!”

“Think about love like a basketball,” Dongwook suggests. He looks thoughtful as he continues on his train of thought, “It bounces because there are ups and downs, but it’s _never_ linear.”

Seungyoun looks at him, miserably. His eyes already feel watery. He thinks he might cry.

“I honestly don’t even know what that means.”

“You’re going to be fine,” Dongwook assures him. He gently pats Seungyoun on the shoulder.

Seungyoun’s eyes dart around the office for any kind of excuse.

His eyes catch his co-worker’s eye and, when Wooseok makes eye contact with him and smirks in amusement, Seungyoun’s mind reels through an imaginary stack of excuses.

 _Anything to get him out of this mess._ He _can’t_ be _Mr. Love._

“Wooseok knows more about love, hyung!” Seungyoun argues, suddenly. “He’s married! He should be the one taking over the job, not me!”

From across the room, Wooseok rolls his eyes and adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He shakes his head, “And, _so_ unfortunately for you, Seungyoun, _Wooseok_ has a pre-approved vacation request to go on an anniversary trip with his husband this week.”

Seungyoun’s jaw drops. “Your anniversary with Jinhyuk is in September!”

Wooseok shrugs and frowns at him like he’s mocking him.

“Yeah, but I’m allowed to celebrate my anniversary whenever I want to,” Wooseok says. He’s pouting at him mockingly and his voice is purposefully annoying. If Seungyoun weren’t trying to coax him into doing a favour, he might have felt an urge to throw something at him. Wooseok adds, “That’s my right as a married man.”

“Save me, Wooseok,” Seungyoun pleas. “You write fashion! There aren’t any fashion shows this month!”

Wooseok rolls his eyes. He straightens out some of the documents on his desk (and Seungyoun knows he’s just pretending to look busy because Dongwook is in the room).

He says, “I cover _Lifestyle, Beauty and Fashion_ , Seungyoun. It’s an umbrella for everything related to lifestyle and fashion, not _just_ fashion shows.”

“Love falls under lifestyle!” Seungyoun insists. Wooseok snorts at him.

“I am not going to be here this week, Seungyoun,” Wooseok reminds him. It isn’t intentional, but Wooseok’s wedding band shines in the sunlight when he moves his hand and Seungyoun almost groans out loud when Wooseok says, “I’m going to be in Bali with my husband.”

“What about your intern?” Seungyoun tries, “The kid who always follows you around! He’s going to be here while you’re gone. Why can’t he be _Mr. Love_?”

Wooseok snorts at him. He clasps his hands together and rests them beneath his chin, his elbows comfortably rested on his desk. He looks amused. He quirks an eyebrow at Seungyoun.

“Dongpyo is _eighteen_ , Seungyoun,” Wooseok says as if he’s stating a fact. It _is_ a fact, but it isn’t a lifechanging one. Seungyoun thinks eighteen-year-olds can write for romance columns. Wooseok seems to think otherwise. “He can’t write for a romance advice column. Besides, he has to fill in for me while I’m gone.”

Seungyoun deflates. He stares helplessly at his keyboard.

“Hyung,” he says. He turns around in his swivel chair to look at Dongwook. “I literally can’t do this.”

Dongwook gently pats him on the back. He gives him a small, encouraging smile. “It’s okay, Seungyoun. You can tell them anything. They’ll be okay.”

He stares up at his boss like a helpless child, hoping that Dongwook will take pity on him and reassign someone else to giving love advice. He hopes he looks like the cat from Shrek, pleading his way out of anything.

“Hyung, _I_ won’t be okay.”

Dongwook gives him a grim smile.

“You’re going to be fine, Seungyoun,” he says. “Let me show you the way to Minhyuk’s office. It’s a million times more comfortable than your cubicle!”

It’s only three in the afternoon and Seungyoun feels like dying.

* * *

It turns out that Minhyuk’s office is _really_ cool. Quite literally. He has his own air conditioning unit and it feels like heaven as soon as Seungyoun steps beyond the glass doors. The exhaustion of an entire day’s hard work seems to fade away as soon as he steps into the air-conditioned office.

The only thing that suddenly makes him feel exhausted again is the giant plaque behind Minhyuk’s desk that reads, _Mr. Love_. There is also a small silver nameplate on his desk that is engraved with the same words.

Seungyoun suddenly feels very tired.

It isn’t a surprise that there are so many plaques of recognition around the office. Recognition is important in their field of work; everyone likes the attention of being important in the office.

Already impossibly tired from being in his temporary home, Seungyoun studies the office space beyond the prideful nameplates.

The atmosphere in the office _somehow_ feels romantic, as well—in an oddly unsettling way. Seungyoun doesn’t know what is giving off the vibe, though. He figures it might be the unlit candles wrapped in red ribbons on the shelf to his left. Or maybe, it’s the giant cherub statue with a bow and arrow placed beside the seat for visitors.

The ambience in the office is a little daunting.

But it really isn’t that surprising that Minhyuk seems to flaunt his role at the office. The magazine treasures his role and his department practically reigns over the other departments. Their magazine was practically built up from the ground with Minhyuk’s help.

He’s a king sitting in his office throne.

Seungyoun knows that their magazine might not be worth any reader’s attention if the romance column wasn’t published online on their website. It’s an extremely popular feature among their readers. In general, _Mr. Love_ is a big deal at their magazine and Seungyoun feels like he is shouldering a task that he isn’t qualified for.

He doesn’t deserve to sit on Minhyuk’s throne for a week.

He doesn’t know how to write about love and they’re trusting him too much. _What if he ruins everyone’s love life because he doesn’t have one of his own?_

Seungyoun is almost certain that eighteen-year-old Son Dongpyo would do a better job at giving romance advice that he would. The kid shadows a married man! He _has_ to know something about love.

All Seungyoun knows is the speed at which tennis balls fly across the court.

Seungyoun has literally _never_ had a crush in his life.

He wouldn’t know how to deal with one.

“Minhyuk says that you can use whatever you need,” Dongwook explains to him. “You can make yourself at home in his office. Refills for the stapler are kept in the drawer to the left. He says he’s already logged into the email for _Mr. Love_ , so you should be good to go whenever you’re ready!”

“I’m never going to be ready,” Seungyoun says.

“Just get comfortable with the atmosphere,” Dongwook says. “You don’t have to start working on publications for the webpage today, but maybe try to answer some questions to get the feel for it.”

Dongwook pats him on the back and flashes him an apologetic smile. Seungyoun knows he isn’t actually apologetic for what he’s done, though. If he was, he would drag Seungyoun back out of this mess.

Defeated, he walks into the office and sits down at the desk. _It feels weird._

His movement wakes up the desktop computer and Seungyoun turns to look at it. It immediately opens up to an email page.

There are _a lot_ of unread messages.

Seungyoun gulps as he scrolls through them.

_It’s going to be a long two hours before he gets off work._

He does end up texting Minhyuk for help. Seungyoun doesn’t even last three minutes staring at the computer screen before he gives up and texts Minhyuk. He barely knows how to navigate the inbox. Seungyoun never got the training for this kind of job— _no one_ does, because everyone believes that Lee Minhyuk will be a valuable asset to their magazine for the years to come—and Dongwook made it sound _so_ easy because it was just as if all he needed to do was answer emails.

The truth is that he _does_ just need to answer emails. Sort of.

He has to answer all the questions that come through the screening email on a different webpage and prepare them for publishing on the website—actually publishing them isn’t his job, though, thankfully. And while he _does_ have to answer _all_ of the questions, only a few of the questions get featured on the website and Seungyoun simply _doesn’t_ know the standard for being picked. All the other questions are sent back to the askers through their email inboxes.

Over long paragraphs of text messages, Minhyuk walks him through most of the questions. Most of the questions are teenagers asking about their crushes and, with every passing second, Seungyoun solidifies his belief that an _actual_ teenager (like Dongpyo) would have done a better job at becoming _Mr. Love_ for a week.

It _does_ get easier to answer the questions.

At some point, it _does_ feel like he can tell the askers anything and it’ll pass as romance advice. Seungyoun doesn’t have an ounce of experience in love, but he feels like his advice is convincing. He goes with his gut instinct. And, in Minhyuk’s encouraging words, _‘you go, Seungyoun! Remember, the coach knows best and the coach doesn’t play.’_

An hour into answering questions from curious teenagers, his only fear is giving shitty advice to a heartbroken teenager and tarnishing _Mr. Love_ ’s reputation and absolutely destroying the reputation that Minhyuk spent years building up. It’s a daunting task to take on, Seungyoun’s lingering feeling of _‘miserable and petrified’_ intensifies with every word he types.

It feels like an endlessly cycling pattern. _Open the email, read the email, repent for sins from a past life, answer the email, send it to the publisher’s email._

Seungyoun’s cursor stops on an email, his eyes fixed on the bolded email address in the sender box.

He blinks. _Once. Twice._

Seungyoun’s eyes dart to the icon in the corner of the webpage, making sure that he is still signed into Minhyuk’s work email (which he is). He even rubs his eyes a few times to be certain, but the address never changes.

It’s an email from _lee_gyul_gyul@daum.net_. In _Mr. Love_ ’s email inbox.

It’s unmistakable, Seungyoun knows that email address by heart.

Seungyoun has received emails from that address for years; chain emails, high school assignments, university-level essays about various things, and random files that the owner of the email address was too lazy to transfer to a USB drive. It’s an email from Lee Hangyul. From his childhood friend.

_Hangyul needs advice from Mr. Love?_

Just the thought is weird.

Seungyoun checks the sender’s name to make sure he isn’t tripping. It just takes a glance for him to be assured that he _isn’t_ tripping. The sender’s name reads _‘Lee Hangyul’_ in neatly bold letters. Seungyoun doesn’t think there can be enough coincidences in the world for there to be two different people named Lee Hangyul, who both share the instinct to make their email addresses so similar.

He opens the email.

It reads:

     _Mr. Love,_

     _I think I’m in love with one of my best friends and I don’t know what to do. We’ve known one another for years and I’m so comfortable being with him. Everything about him is so perfect and his smile makes me so happy. I think I’ve been crushing on him for a really long time, but I just never realized it. The realization is terrifying, though._

     _We’re supposed to be going on vacation together (with another friend!) in a week! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to act normally on the trip when I’m going to be so close to him all the time. I don’t want him to be scared off if he figures out that I like him, though. I don’t want things to change between us._

     _If I confess before the trip and he rejects me, it’ll be so weird. What if he bails on the trip? I don’t want to have to put our mutual friend through the stress of dealing with us. But I also don’t want to hide my feelings and act awkwardly around him for an entire week! What should I do?_

     _Please help, I don’t know what to do._

     _Hangyul_

     _P.S. If you publish this, please redact my name with ‘Mopey Confused Tiger’ or something. Thanks._   


Seungyoun spends a good five minutes staring at the email. There are a lot of things that stand out in the email (and a couple of things that solidify that this _is_ the Lee Hangyul that Seungyoun grew up with).

The first thing that stands out is simple. _Hangyul has a crush on someone who is going on vacation with him in a week._

Seungyoun _knows_ that he shouldn’t be nosy and try to dig to figure things out because he’s supposed to be _Mr. Love,_ the guy who advises people anonymously. He isn’t supposed to actually know the people he advises. His advice is supposed to be purely from a third-party’s lens. He’s sure there’s a confidentiality clause somewhere that bars him from looking deeper. But, when he looks at the sent time on the email and the calendar, he realizes that the trip Hangyul indicates falls into the timeline for the same trip that he requested time off for.

It piques his interest. There aren’t very many people who are invited on the trip. It’s meant to be a retreat for their squad of best friends, so, it’s only going to be Seungyoun, Yohan (his roommate), and Hangyul travelling together. It’s extremely easy to narrow down.

He is forced to cast aside the fact that the person in question has known Hangyul for a long time. It isn’t a clue that helps. They’ve all known one another for over five years and Seungyoun thinks that classifies as ‘ _years_ ’.

 _It’s someone perfect._ Seungyoun isn’t sure how he can determine perfection without looking at people through Hangyul’s eyes, but he supposes that out of all of them, Yohan is pretty cool. He’s pretty perfect. _Pretty and perfect._ Hangyul is too, though. But Hangyul can’t possibly be nervous about having a crush on himself. That’s a little weird.

 _He has a nice smile; one that makes Hangyul happy._ It makes Seungyoun think. Yohan has a stunning smile. Seungyoun likes to think that his own smile is nice, but he doesn’t think it can compare to Yohan’s blazing smile. Again, Hangyul’s smile is no joke (and Seungyoun is sure that he’s happy when he smiles), but Seungyoun doesn’t think Hangyul is stressing over having a crush on himself.

_If Hangyul is the one with the crush, then…_

Seungyoun blinks. _Hangyul has a crush on Yohan?_

* * *

Yohan is sitting on one of the barstools by the window when Seungyoun comes home from work. The younger man is leaning against the counter, picking at a bowl of chips. He’s facing Seungyoun, but his attention is focused entirely on something on his phone. He only acknowledges Seungyoun returning from work and spares him a glance when he bends down to take his shoes off.

“You look so stressed,” Yohan remarks. He tosses another chip into his mouth and crunches down on it. He lowers his phone to look at Seungyoun.

Seungyoun groans and looks up from untying his shoelaces.

“And _you_ look so happy. At least one of us had a good day,” he says, as Yohan pops another chip into his mouth. “Who are you texting?”

Yohan shrugs. “Hangyul.”

Suddenly, Yohan’s phone chimes again and he picks it up to look at the screen. Seungyoun doesn’t know what Hangyul sent him, but it makes Yohan smirk and snicker before he replies to the message.

Seungyoun pauses, watching his roommate text Hangyul back. He raises from his squatting position and carefully places his shoes onto the shoe rack to his left. He shrugs off his blazer and pulls off his tie. He throws it onto the coat hanger, knowing Yohan will frown at him for it later.

“Do you think Hangyul likes someone?” he asks, suddenly.

Yohan blinks. He lowers his phone and raises his eyebrow.

“Why?” he asks, “Do you like him?”

Seungyoun frowns. “No, I was just wondering.”

Yohan tilts his head, disbelieving. He mirrors Seungyoun’s frown.

Seungyoun shakes his head, “No, Yohan. I was just wondering because they reassigned me at work for the week and I’ve only been answering questions about love for the past few hours. I’m about to lose my mind.”

Yohan’s lips curve into a wicked smile. He snorts at him, “You’re taking up the romance advice column at work? Cho Seungyoun is giving love advice?”

Seungyoun rolls his eyes.

“Stop,” he says. He walks up to Yohan and plucks a chip from the bowl. “That’s what I told them, but there’s no one else who can cover for him or something. So, I’ve been cursed into dealing with all this romance stuff for the week.”

“What about your co-worker?” Yohan asks. “The married one. Wooseok?”

Seungyoun sighs deeply at the mention of Wooseok. He drops his forehead down onto the counter and groans. “Don’t talk to me about him right now.”

Yohan snickers, “What did he do?”

“He’s blowing me off for an anniversary trip with his husband,” he said. “Their anniversary is in September, but they just _had_ to schedule their anniversary trip now. He would have done such a good job at it.”

Yohan shrugs.

“Sorry, hyung,” he says. “He’s allowed to celebrate his anniversary early, though. That’s his right as a married man.”

Seungyoun raises his head from the counter and shoots Yohan a withering glare. He frowns, “Who told you that?”

Yohan blinks. “Is it not?”

Seungyoun sniffs. “That’s what he told me when I told him to cover for me and I’m bitter about it.” Seungyoun groans and grabs at his own head with both of his hands. He makes a distressed, muffled screaming sound.

Yohan gingerly pats his shoulder in an attempt to be comforting. It doesn’t work but Seungyoun appreciates the gesture. He really does.

“Is it that bad?” Yohan asks.

Seungyoun rolls over and groans. “Listen,” he says, “I can’t get my mind off romance and it’s literally the worst thing in the world. All I’ve known all my life is sports and I don’t know a lick about romance. But _this_ is my tragic fate.”

Yohan sighs, “It’s okay, hyung. You’ll survive, I’m sure. You made it through everything you’ve thought would kill you. You’ll live through this.”

“That’s _very_ reassuring, Yohan,” he says.

Yohan beams at him and holds a chip to his lips. “I know.”

“I was being sarcastic,” Seungyoun tells him. Yohan’s smile dims a little.

“I know,” he repeats. Seungyoun glares at him, displeased. But he opens his mouth for Yohan to shove the chip in despite his reaction.

Yohan’s phone chimes again. He reaches for it.

Yohan tilts his head, “Hey,” he says, “Why did you say you wanted to know if Hangyul had a crush on someone or not?”

Seungyoun sits back up and frowns. He rests his chin in his palm and scrunches up his nose in thought. He tries to think up an excuse that wouldn’t expose Hangyul’s feelings. After all, he isn’t supposed to know that Hangyul likes someone. And he’s _especially_ not supposed to know that it’s someone in their friend group (read: Yohan, the very person he is currently speaking to).

“I was just wondering because maybe _one_ of us has some experience with love,” he says.

Yohan quirks an eyebrow at him.

“You’re just willingly leaving me out of this?” Yohan asks. Seungyoun frowns.

“Well,” he says, “do _you_ like someone, then?”

Yohan laughs. “No.”

“Then, why are you being offended?” Seungyoun asks.

Yohan grins and pokes at his phone.

“For fun,” he says. Seungyoun rolls his eyes.

“You’re so annoying,” he says. Yohan beams.

He picks at a chip and pops it into his mouth. He crunches on his chips obnoxiously, intentionally trying to irritate Seungyoun. He grins.

“It’s unfortunate you live with me, huh?” he asks. He pretends to wipe a tear from his face with one of his clean fingers, “You just have to deal with me all the time and there’s no escape.”

He shrugs nonchalantly. He gestures vaguely at his phone, waving the device around like it isn’t worth half of Seungyoun’s monthly earnings.

He says, “I don’t know if Hangyul likes someone or not, but he said he’s coming over later, so you could always ask him.”

Seungyoun freezes.

_Hangyul is coming over?_

_Hangyul is going to see him in person on the day that he finds out that Hangyul has a crush on someone?_

Seungyoun isn’t sure that he can act like he doesn’t know anything. He can feel the panic building up in his stomach. He doesn’t like it.

Without another word, Yohan finishes off the bowl of chips and hops off of the barstool. He walks towards the living room.

“Hey, you should go take a shower before Hangyul comes over,” he says. Then, he looks over his shoulder at Seungyoun. “Do you want to play FIFA?”

Seungyoun sighs.

“Go get it started up,” he says, “I’ll go shower.”

* * *

Hangyul is so happy when he appears at their door. He looks like he has exciting news to share and, as always, he lets himself into the apartment because he knows their passcode—it’s just a combination of their birthdates, anyway.

“I’m here!” Hangyul announces as he waltzes into their apartment while Seungyoun is kicking Yohan’s ass in their third FIFA match.

He hangs himself over the back of the sofa after he kicks his shoes off and hooks his arms around his friends. Seungyoun tilts back his head to flash a smile at Hangyul, just as he scores another goal on Yohan. His silver hair is pushed back, away from his forehead—he must have just gotten home from work.

“Hey,” he greets. Yohan kicks him from the other side of the sofa.

He turns to look at Hangyul, mid-tantrum.

“Hey,” he echoes. Hangyul grins at them.

“You suck at this game, Yohan,” he says. Yohan scrunches up his nose and blindly throws his hand back to hit Hangyul. Hangyul easily dodges it and pushes Yohan. “You do.”

“I don’t like your attitude,” Yohan says.

Hangyul laughs at him.

He straightens up and grins. He says, “Make room.”

Both Seungyoun and Yohan shift awkwardly on the sofa to make room for Hangyul to fit between them. Hangyul climbs over the back of the sofa and slips into the small space between them. He looks so happy to be between his best friends that neither of them has the heart to scold him for squishing into the tiny space.

“How was work?” Hangyul asks Seungyoun. He bends over and reaches for one of the controllers hidden in the storage compartment beneath the coffee table. “Same old stuff?”

Yohan snorts at that. Seungyoun immediately sighs.

“What?” Hangyul looks between them in confusion. “Did something interesting happen?”

“I got my vacation approved,” Seungyoun says. “I can come with you guys.”

Hangyul claps his hands together, happily. He grins, “That’s great!”

Yohan throws both his legs over Hangyul’s lap and nudges Seungyoun with his foot.

“That’s not all,” he reminds him. He looks like a hell-sent demon whose only purpose is to torment Seungyoun. Seungyoun figures that just for today, Yohan fits that description perfectly. “Some other _wonderful_ things happened to Seungyoun hyung at work today.”

Hangyul blinks.

“What happened?”

Yohan’s lips are curved into a wicked smirk. He snickers into his hand as the game returns to the home screen. Seungyoun busies himself by pretending that adding a third player to the game is an extremely difficult task. Unfortunately for him, adding Hangyul to the game doesn’t take much time at all.

“Seungyoun hyung had a great day at work,” he says. He waves his hand vaguely in the air as if it explains anything. It doesn’t, but he’s doing his best. (Seungyoun honestly hopes that he doesn’t say anything more—Seungyoun, unfortunately, doesn’t have that much luck when it comes to getting the things he wants, though.) “He got switched to a different department and he’s been losing his mind all day. He didn’t have a choice.”

Seungyoun groans and leans back on the sofa, trying to disappear into the cushioning.

Hangyul glances at him weirdly.

“I’m miserable,” he whines. He feels frustrated about the fact that he can’t melt into the cushions of the sofa and disappear into the void. “And Yohan has been snickering at me since I got home from work. He thinks it’s so funny because I’m not qualified for this at all.”

Hangyul seems to pale a little. He shifts anxiously on the sofa.

“What did you get switched to?” he asks. “Why aren’t you qualified for it?”

Yohan laughs at that, full-bodied. He practically doubles over with laughter and cackles at Seungyoun. Seungyoun genuinely doesn’t know why his misery is so funny to Yohan, but maybe he and Wooseok graduated from the same school (the one that teaches people how to make fun of Cho Seungyoun). When he finally sits back up, he wipes a tear from his eye and heaves a breath of laughter. Seungyoun shoots him a dirty look.

“He’s in the romance advice department,” Yohan explains. He can barely speak without snickering between his words and Seungyoun wants to hit him for it. He resists the urge in favour of moping in his seat. Yohan continues, “He’s taking the reins because his co-worker is sick and can’t come into work for the week. Imagine that, Hangyul, Cho Seungyoun is giving _romance_ advice.”

Seungyoun reaches over Hangyul to punch Yohan in the arm.

Hangyul breaks them up, he catches Seungyoun’s hand and he grabs Yohan’s arm to pull them away from one another. He scrunches up his nose.

He turns to look at Seungyoun.

“You’ve literally never been in a relationship, hyung,” Hangyul says, slowly. His voice sounds a little strained and he’s a little too careful with his words. It’s barely detectable though. It goes unnoticed by both Yohan and Seungyoun. “You’ve never even expressed interest in anyone. What do you know about love?”

Seungyoun hesitates. He glances at the hand Hangyul is using to hold onto him and Yohan. Quietly, he pries himself out of the younger man’s grip. He shrugs.

Hangyul loosens his grip and lets his hand fall back into his lap.

“Nothing,” he said, “but, the _real_ _Mr. Love_ is helping me out via text message.”

Yohan positively guffaws at that. He snorts and falls back into the sofa.

He’s laughing so hard that he’s nearly crying.

 _“Mr. Love,”_ he echoes. “That’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.”

Seungyoun feels like dying. He feels like he wants to melt into the sofa for real, maybe with the help of fire, this time. He really _can’t_ deny that _Mr. Love_ is the stupidest name he has ever heard in his life because it _is_. Minhyuk’s brand is so uniquely _Minhyuk_ that no one wants to take over the reins of _being_ him. And Seungyoun can’t exactly trash the brand that built their magazine up from the ground.

Seungyoun grimaces. “He’s certainly built up a very… _specific_ brand.”

“It seems like a very difficult brand to keep up with,” Hangyul interjects. He clears his throat awkwardly and starts the game. He’s struggling to keep it a secret that he _knows_ who Seungyoun is covering for.

“That’s probably why Seungyoun hyung got stuck with it,” Yohan grins. “He’s bad at saying no to people and he doesn’t know how to make excuses.”

Hangyul makes a strange sound in the back of his throat and sits up straight on the sofa. He runs his fingers through his hair and points at the screen.

“You’re going to lose if you keep laughing at Seungyoun hyung and not focusing,” he says.

Yohan laughs and straightens up on the sofa.

Seungyoun elbows Hangyul and flashes him a small smile. It’s an unspoken ‘thank you’. Hangyul only looks at him for a second before he looks back at the screen.

“I’m not going to go easy on either of you,” he says. It’s confident and prideful. It’s adorably _Hangyul_. “I’m going to win and you’re both going to sit there crying.”

Seungyoun chuckles.

“You’re on my team, Hangyul,” he reminds him gently, gesturing to the screen.

Hangyul hesitates for a second.

He chuckles, “Right,” he says. “I’m always on your team, aren’t I?”

“You picked it,” Seungyoun says.

Hangyul shrugs.

“I’m always on your team,” he repeats. “Yohan’s team is always the losing team.”

“You should be helping me out,” Yohan complains, “not stacking your team and trying to beat the one who apparently sucks. That’s called bullying.”

Hangyul snorts.

“Maybe you should get better,” he suggests. He flashes a cheeky smile at him and sticks his tongue out. “Then, you’d be able to beat us.”

“You and Seungyoun hyung have literally had years of practice,” Yohan complains.

Hangyul shrugs as his in-game character passes Seungyoun’s character the ball.

“We’ve had practice in real life,” he says. “Not in games.”

“It’s the same thing,” Yohan says. “You played football together as kids and it’s been ingrained into your souls—your feet know what they’re doing, but so do your _fingers_. It translates.” Yohan huffs when Seungyoun shoots the ball directly into his net. “You guys have this unbeatable chemistry and teamwork that rivals a couple that’s been married for eighteen years. It’s like you can read each other’s minds.”

Hangyul nudges Yohan gently. Seungyoun doesn’t look at him quickly enough to see the way his cheeks flush a pinkish tone. Hangyul falls silent.

After a moment, he mutters, “Maybe instead of complaining, you should work on that kind of chemistry with me, then.”

“Yohan is going to pretend that he lost because he was too busy talking,” Seungyoun remarks. He passes the ball to Hangyul’s character and grins. “He can’t stand the fact that we’re the greatest team ever, Gyul.”

Yohan snorts, “Power couple.”

There’s a beat of silence.

Hangyul murmurs, “We’re not a couple.”

Yohan chuckles.

“I know,” he says. “But you’re always together, so it’s almost the same thing.”

Seungyoun rolls his eyes.

“Couples need to like each other,” Seungyoun reminds him. Yohan makes an annoying _‘ooh’_ -ing sound that fakes his understanding and is obviously meant to mock Seungyoun. He leans back against the sofa and grins when he finally gets a goal in Seungyoun’s net.

“Okay, whatever you say, _Mr. Love_ ,” Yohan croons.

Seungyoun resists the urge to throw the controller at Yohan’s head.

Yohan laughs wickedly when the distraction gets Seungyoun away from the net long enough for him to score another goal. Hangyul groans when Seungyoun misses the save. He elbows him in the arm and Seungyoun echoes at groan in pain.

“That’s cheap,” Seungyoun complains.

Yohan huffs, “I’m allowed handicaps because I’m playing against a stacked team.”

“That’s not fair!” Seungyoun exclaims. Yohan huffs.

“It _is_ fair,” he says. He’s whining as he plays and it’s almost amusing to watch three grown men yell at one another over a video game. “This is an uneven playing field. Do you know what’s not fair? You’re a stacked team playing against a one-man team that _apparently_ sucks more than you do! You owe me a handicap or something.”

“It’s not fair that you’re playing mind games to distract him,” Hangyul interjects. “You’re disturbing our team synergy.”

“You’re both unbearable,” Yohan complains. “Like a match made in heaven; irritating!”

“Maybe we would be less irritating to you if you could actually beat us,” Seungyoun says.

Yohan gasps.

“Disrespectful!”

“I don’t owe you any respect!” he says. “I’m the oldest one here! You owe _me_ respect. I’m the best player.”

Hangyul snorts at that.

“Hyung,” he says, “you suck. I’m the one hard carrying this game.”

Seungyoun gasps, offended.

“How could you say that to your gaming soulmate, Hangyul?”

Hangyul’s eyes widen and he freezes in place. For a moment, he hesitates and just stares at Seungyoun like he said something crazy.

Yohan takes the opportunity to score on them again.

The in-game buzzer blares and it shocks them out of their little trance.

The last-minute goal triggers Yohan’s victory. Yohan practically hops up from the sofa, excited at the development. He hops up on his feet and almost bounces in place.

“I won!” he declares. Seungyoun huffs at him and falls back on the sofa.

“That’s unfair,” he says.

Yohan pouts at him dramatically and drags a finger down his cheek as if he’s mocking tears.

In an obnoxious voice that’s obviously mocking Seungyoun, he says, “Maybe you should get better at the game, then!”

Hangyul kicks Yohan in the back of his thigh for his jab.

Yohan dramatically doubles over in fake pain. He clutches his leg and falls on the rug in the space between the sofa and the coffee table. He groans, his acting worthy of a B-list Hollywood actor.

Seungyoun scrunches up his nose.

“He didn’t even kick you that hard,” he says.

Yohan hops back up and shrugs.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “He didn’t.”

Yohan tosses his controller onto the sofa.

“You guys play a match against each other,” he says. “I have to go to the washroom.”

Hangyul puts in the effort to gently kick Yohan’s ass when he walks away from them. Yohan swats Hangyul’s foot with his hand and shoots him a glare.

While Yohan is in the washroom, Seungyoun turns to look at Hangyul.

“You’re acting kind of weird, Hangyul,” he says, “like someone is making you nervous or something.”

Hangyul shrugs and makes a face. He’s not looking at Seungyoun, though. He’s pretending to look at the television screen even though there isn’t anything interesting on the screen.

“Am I? I feel normal to me.”

Seungyoun frowns, “That’s exactly what someone who doesn’t feel normal would say, you know?”

Hangyul looks down at his hands. He flips the controller over in his hands and pretends to inspect it.

“I’m fine,” Hangyul says. “There’s nothing suspicious about me.”

Hangyul glances at him and looks away when he meets Seungyoun’s eyes. He taps his thumb randomly on the directional pad of the controller. He’s fidgeting. He’s nervous—it’s obvious.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Hangyul asks. He self-consciously tucks his hair behind his ear and purses his lips into a small frown, “Is there something on my face?”

“I just think you’ve kind of been acting a little strangely since Yohan mentioned that I switched departments for the week. It’s like you’re weirdly unsettled, or even interested, in the fact that I’m working in the romance advice column,” Seungyoun says. Hangyul winces at that as if Seungyoun hammered the nail on the head with his remark. He knows he has. “Do you like someone, Hangyul? Do you need some advice or something?”

Hangyul laughs nervously.

He shakes his head, “Why would you think that, hyung? I don’t like anyone.” _Hangyul is a terrible liar._ He shifts his eyes, “Why would I take love advice from you, anyway?”

Seungyoun pouts and leans back in his seat.

“It doesn’t have to be from _me_ ,” he says. “There are other people in the department.”

Hangyul raises an eyebrow. “But, you’re the only one I would talk to about my feelings.” He pauses, “And Yohan,” he adds, softly, “but Yohan doesn’t work with you in the romance advice department.”

Seungyoun can’t resist the surge of curiosity that strikes him at the moment. It’s almost overwhelming and Seungyoun can’t resist the urge to ask. He doesn’t know how to hide the fact that he knows something Hangyul doesn’t know he knows.

It’s almost painful. Seungyoun can’t keep his mouth shut.

He turns to look at Hangyul straight in the eyes and he inhales sharply.

He asks, “Do you like Yohan?”

The words fall awkwardly into the small space between them.

Hangyul is sitting right beside him, but Seungyoun suddenly feels like there’s a wall of awkwardness that builds itself between them, blocking Hangyul out of his line of sight. It feels like built-up tension that suffocates them. It’s hypothetical of course because Seungyoun can see the way Hangyul’s face contorts.

For a moment, Hangyul looks confused. His eyebrows furrow and he frowns. There’s a myriad of emotions that flickers across his face. It takes him a moment to get over his confusion and answer Seungyoun.

His answer almost sounds uncertain, but he says, “Yes.”

“Oh.”

Seungyoun feels a strange pang in his chest. It’s an unfamiliar feeling. It’s odd and it clenches in his chest.

Seungyoun shrugs off the weird feeling in favour of a more positive outlook. He shifts on the sofa and looks at Hangyul, “You should ask him out. We’re going on a trip! It’ll be the perfect time to ask.”

Hangyul flashes him an awkward smile.

Quietly, he says, “Yeah. Maybe I should.”

* * *

The next day at work is a little bit easier than his first day. Seungyoun kind of figures out how to reply to emails and it feels like he’s working like a machine. This time, he doesn’t need to repent for the sins he committed in a past life between answering emails.

It gets easier.

Most of his emails are just reassuring teenage boys that they’re perfectly fine if they can’t get a girlfriend in high school and that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with going to college without ever having a significant other. (He almost wants to reassure one of the kids by self-inserting himself as an example because he has successfully made it through post-secondary education without a relationship, but he resists it because Minhyuk warns him that it isn’t professional—nor does it fit with _Mr. Love’s_ character.)

Seungyoun understands how Minhyuk can get used to a job like this. It’s just giving teenagers advice that is vague enough to guide them in the right direction while making sure that it is supportive enough for them to think that _someone_ —specifically a stranger by the name of _‘Mr. Love’_ —actually cares about their love life.

It feels like a scam, somewhat gimmicky because he doesn’t think he reads any of the emails thoroughly enough to care about the future development of these love stories, but it isn’t that bad of a job. Something in his gut tells him that _Minhyuk_ would care about the development of all these stories, but he isn’t Minhyuk.

He isn’t the _real Mr. Love_ and he doesn’t care that much.

The only love story he cares about is Hangyul’s. He answered the email that Hangyul had sent to _Mr. Love_ with encouraging words and reassurance that everything was fine.

That was _before_ he got the solidified answer that Hangyul liked Yohan, though.

And now that he _knows,_ it’s kind of hard to shake off his curiosity.

He wants to see Hangyul happy, but he doesn’t know how to make things work out for him.

The best thing about having a private office is that there isn’t anyone else in the office with him. Seungyoun doesn’t need to worry about having eyes on him when he slacks. So, Seungyoun spaces out at his desk after he finishes answering the emails sent before lunchtime.

 _Yohan doesn’t like anyone._ That’s what he told him yesterday after Seungyoun came home from work. And because he doesn’t like anyone, that means he doesn’t like Hangyul unless he’s lying. But Yohan doesn’t have any reason to lie to Seungyoun about his crushes.

But, in knowing that Hangyul likes Yohan, Seungyoun is struck with the issue of fixing something unrequited. He needs to figure out how to make Yohan like Hangyul. Or maybe he needs to figure out how to have Hangyul get over Yohan. Seungyoun worries over the latter because it _really_ sounded like Hangyul _really_ liked him in the first email he sent.

Never in his life did Seungyoun think he would be caught between his best friends’ love stories. Yet, here he is. It’s funny how life works.

He’s the most inexperienced with anything romantic between the three of them—although he thinks that the fling Yohan had with a graduate student when they were still in university classifies as something close to love—yet, he’s the one stuck with trying to make things work out for them.

Seungyoun shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair with a groan.

He’s taking this _Mr. Love_ stuff a little too seriously.

The computer pings with a notification that drags Seungyoun’s attention out of his thoughts. He almost jumps in surprise at the sound.

He looks at the screen in time to see a new email pop into the inbox.

The new email doesn’t have a subject line and the sender’s email is weird.

Seungyoun blinks rapidly at the letters on his screen. It feels like he’s back to seeing Hangyul’s email address on his screen, except it isn’t Hangyul’s email, this time. He still feels like rubbing his eyes to make sure he’s reading it correctly, though.

The email address on the screen is highly questionable. It reads _cockdestroyer6969@daum.net_ , and Seungyoun feels his brain withering.

_Who uses emails like this to contact businesses?_

For a brief moment, he feels afraid that he might infect Minhyuk’s computer with a virus if he clicks the email. It _sounds_ like it’s a virus.

But he can see the preview of the email and it’s addressed to _Mr. Love_. Despite the email address, it feels like it’s innocent enough.

With a deep sigh, Seungyoun opens the email.

It reads:

       
_Mr. Love,_

     _What are you supposed to do when your crush thinks you like someone else?_   


Seungyoun closes the email.

He sighs into his hands before he picks up his phone to text Minhyuk. He needs third party control because he has no self-control and he _really_ wants to tell cockdestroyer6969 that his crush is an idiot.

* * *

Yohan is brushing his teeth in the washroom, wiggling around in front of the mirror to some imaginary song playing in his head, when Seungyoun throws open the door to his bedroom and scares the living shit out of his roommate.

“Hey,” he calls. Seungyoun is lying on his bed with his head hanging off the edge, just enough to peer out of his room to look at Yohan through the crack in the doorway.

Yohan sees him in the mirror before he turns around and it has him jumping. It must have looked like a monster appearing out of nowhere to scare the living crap out of an innocent resident because Yohan clutches both hands over his heart and stumbles forward. He grabs the edge of the sink to regain his balance. When he recovers from his shock, he glares at Seungyoun.

With his toothbrush still in his mouth muffling his speech, Yohan asks, “What?”

“It’s obvious when someone likes you, right?” he asks.

Yohan makes a weird face.

He pulls his toothbrush out of his mouth and spits out the toothpaste.

When he’s finished, he looks at Seungyoun really weirdly.

“Is this for work or do you think someone has a crush on you?”

 _No, it’s you,_ Seungyoun thinks. _This is for you, you idiot._

Seungyoun makes a face, “I don’t think anyone has a crush on me.”

Yohan nods his head, but he doesn’t say anything else. Seungyoun doesn’t know how to take the silence, but he figures he should be patient because Yohan _is_ busy.

Seungyoun watches as Yohan leans down to rinse his mouth. He takes his sweet time finishing up in the washroom and then, he pats his face dry with a towel before he crosses the hallway to Seungyoun’s room.

He stops right in front of the door and looks down at Seungyoun, who stares up at him from his upside-down position on the bed. There’s a funny smile on Yohan’s lips.

“Can I come in?”

Seungyoun shrugs and rolls over on his bed.

“Yeah,” he says, sitting up straight on his bed. As he sits up, the blood rushes to his head and he falls forward onto his bed. He groans when he hits the pillow.

“You good?” Yohan asks from behind him.

Yohan pushes the door gently and walks in.

“Yeah, I’m all good,” he says. He feels a little dizzy from the fall but it isn’t anything he can’t get over really quickly. Shaking his head to rid himself of the lightheadedness, Seungyoun waves his hand vaguely, “Come right in.”

Yohan chuckles at that.

Yohan sits down on the edge of Seungyoun’s bed and crosses his arms over his chest. The bed dips where he seats himself. Yohan is quiet as he studies Seungyoun. His eyes flicker over the older man’s face and then, he scans his figure like he’s checking him out. But Seungyoun knows that look. _Yohan is judging him._

Not that he knows why.

“You’re being really weird, Seungyoun hyung,” he says. “You’ve been really weirdly interested in romance recently and I think it’s kind of strange.”

Seungyoun sniffs.

“It’s my job, now,” he says. “It’s just for a week, but it’s still my job, you know.”

Yohan raises an eyebrow at him. It’s obvious that Yohan doesn’t believe him, but Seungyoun hopes he isn’t as transparent as he feels.

Yohan stares at him.

Seungyoun shifts under his gaze.

“Okay,” Yohan says. He’s careful with his words as if he’s afraid that Seungyoun might throw something at him if he isn’t careful. (He might.) “Be honest with me, hyung. Are you asking me this for your work or are you curious about Hangyul’s love life again?”

Seungyoun blinks at him.

He sits up in his bed and hugs one of the pillows on his bed. Seungyoun pulls his knees up to his chest.

He scrunches up his nose and furrows his eyebrows.

Then, as nonchalantly as possible, he asks, “What makes you think that it’s about Hangyul?”

Yohan shrugs. His eyes don’t leave Seungyoun.

“You’re not _denying_ that it’s about Hangyul,” he points out. Yohan tugs at the tie around the plush bear’s neck. He frowns and looks down at the toy, “Just be honest with me, hyung.”

Seungyoun hesitates for a second. He frowns.

“What if it _is_ about Hangyul?” he asks. “Like, so what if I’m asking about Hangyul, I mean.”

Yohan sighs. He grabs one of the plush toys on Seungyoun’s bed and pulls it into his lap. While he thinks, he plays with the arm of a bear plush toy (which Seungyoun vaguely remembers Hangyul winning for him at a fair when Hangyul was seventeen and too excited to be playing games).

“Okay, I’m just going to be straight up with you, hyung,” Yohan says. He turns to look at Seungyoun and there’s a little frown on his lips. “Hyung, you’ve been really caught up over Hangyul’s love life, recently. It’s kind of weird.”

Seungyoun falls back on his bed and groans into his pillow, but he can’t just say, _‘It’s because I know something you don’t!’_

Yohan sighs, again.

“I’m not going to ask you _why_ you’re like this,” he says, “because something tells me that you don’t know why you’re acting like this, either.”

Seungyoun makes an indignant noise of refusal. He _knows_ why he’s acting like this. He just can’t tell Yohan why he’s acting like this because it’ll spoil all of his plans. He is sworn to secrecy as a man who gives romantic advice. _It’s confidential!_

(He conveniently ignores the fact that he isn’t actually sworn to any kind of secrecy outside of the ‘bro code’, because Hangyul told him about his crush outside of his work hours. And also because this isn’t even his real job.)

Yohan shoots him a look.

“Do you want to tell me?” he asks. Something about the sound of his voice makes it sound like a challenge and Seungyoun is only _almost_ intimidated by it. “I’ll ask if you want to tell me.”

Seungyoun sniffs.

“I can’t tell you,” he said.

“Great,” Yohan replies. His voice sounds dry. “I didn’t think so. So, I’ll respect that.”

Seungyoun frowns at him.

“So?”

Yohan scrunches up his nose.

He tugs at the plush bear’s hand as he keeps thinking. Seungyoun feels the odd urge to pull the bear away from Yohan because he’s reminded that it was a gift from Hangyul, and he doesn’t want Yohan to actually damage the toy in any way. He wouldn’t want Hangyul to think that he wasn’t taking care of his gifts.

Luckily, Yohan stops pulling. He holds the bear in his lap. He shrugs.

“I’m just concerned, hyung,” he says. “We’re going on vacation together in a few days and you’ve been acting really weirdly. Like, are you going to be able to act normally on our trip?”

Seungyoun hesitates for a second.

_Is he going to be able to act normally?_

“Why not?” he asks, “Why wouldn’t I be able to act normal?”

Yohan looks at him, doubtfully.

“I don’t know,” he replies. He’s honest and Seungyoun can see it in his eyes. Yohan shrugs, “I’m just putting it out there.”

Seungyoun studies Yohan’s face for a moment. For a short while, they don’t say anything.

Then, something hits him. Seungyoun almost gasps in surprise at the way his brain works when the thought hits him.

He sits straight up in bed again and looks at Yohan.

“Hey,” he says.

Yohan looks at him. This time, he isn’t terrified of suddenly being called, but he does look terribly confused. Yohan tilts his head.

“What?”

“We should switch rooms,” he says.

It sounds like a brilliant idea in his head, switching rooms. Their original plans were for Seungyoun and Hangyul to share a double room at the hotel, and Yohan would have a room to himself next door. The hotels were already booked, so their arrangements were almost set in stone. Nothing could be changed at this point.

But switching rooms? Switching rooms is possible. Nothing is stopping them and, in Seungyoun’s opinion, it comes with _many_ positives.

It leaves Hangyul and Yohan to be alone. It’ll give them more time to bond, and Hangyul shouldn’t suspect a thing. It’ll even give them enough time for Yohan to potentially fall for Hangyul’s charms, and it’ll provide a chance for Hangyul to confess when they’re all alone.

Yohan loses his single hotel room, but Seungyoun would be able to scam them into sharing a room.

It _almost_ sounds foolproof.

“What?” Yohan looks confused.

“You should room with Hangyul,” Seungyoun explains. Yohan furrows his brows.

“Hyung, you _always_ room with Hangyul when we go anywhere together,” Yohan says. “Are you going to break his heart like that?”

Seungyoun blinks, confused.

“Why would that break his heart?”

Yohan looks at him for a moment. A long, silent moment.

He sighs, “Okay. Ask him how he feels about you having a single room, then.”

“Do you not want to give up the single room?” Seungyoun stares at him suspiciously.

Yohan shakes his head, “No. I don’t care about the room,” he says. “I just want to know how Hangyul feels about it before I decide anything with you.”

Seungyoun shrugs.

“Okay, I’ll ask him.”

* * *

Seungyoun doesn’t actually have the guts to ask Hangyul if he wants to switch rooms until they’re already on vacation. He blames it on work getting so busy that it slips his mind, which isn’t entirely true. Work was busy, but the thought of asking Hangyul to switch rooms stays on his mind for the entirety of the week. Hangyul comes over to the apartment he shares with Yohan often and Seungyoun had a million chances he didn’t take. Without the guts to ask a simple question, Seungyoun doesn’t ask him until they’re at the beach.

Even after they step out of the car, Seungyoun feels a little awkward about asking Hangyul about switching rooms. So, with his thoughts heavily circulating how he might want to approach the topic, he trails a couple of steps behind Yohan and Hangyul, lugging their belongings with him. From behind them, Seungyoun watches his best friends excitedly point out things that they _definitely_ want to check out later.

 _They’re cute,_ he thinks. _They would probably be cute together, too._

But somehow, it still feels weird to ask Hangyul about switching hotel rooms. Every time they have a moment alone, Seungyoun wants to ask, but it feels weird. He can’t pinpoint _why_ it feels weird, though.

He had a chance to ask when Yohan ran into the bathroom at their apartment, minutes before they had to leave, insisting they wouldn’t be late. He brushed that opportunity, thinking that it was too soon. He had another chance to ask when Yohan escaped the passenger seat and ran into a convenience store to buy some coffee and some snacks for the road. He had a chance to ask when he and Hangyul awkwardly waited for Yohan in the car because Seungyoun already finished pumping gas into the tank. He could have filled the space between the driver’s seat and the backseat with the question. He waited too long and gave up that chance, too.

It shouldn’t be weird. It’s just rooming arrangements. Rooming arrangements can be changed at any time. It really shouldn’t be weird. It isn’t like this is their first trip together and they need to be cautious of how they behave around one another, in fear of ruining friendships with tense atmospheres.

He, Yohan and Hangyul have been on trips together before. They’ve done it so many times before.

And every single time, Seungyoun has shared a hotel room with Hangyul.

He belatedly realizes: that might be the problem.

 _Yohan was right_ , as he always seems to be.

Every single trip they’ve ever taken together meant that Seungyoun and Hangyul shared a hotel room. It was just how they functioned. It was a default state, now—they don’t discuss the rooming arrangements when they book the hotel room. It’s just assumed that he’ll be sharing a room with Hangyul and Yohan will be in the room next door (or across the hall). He doesn’t even remember how they decided it the first time, but he knows that it’s something that they’ve been doing for years. It feels weird to try to break the standard, now.

So, as they’re checking into the hotel, Seungyoun lingers awkwardly by the side.

He isn’t sure what to say, but it’s his last chance to bring it up before Yohan comes back to give them their room keys and sets their roommate arrangements in stone.

“Hey, Hangyul,” Seungyoun flops down on the seat beside Hangyul while he waits for Yohan to fetch the keys to their hotel rooms from the receptionist. The cushion is a million times softer than the leather seats of his car and he almost groans when he sits down.

Hangyul looks up from his phone and turns to look at Seungyoun with a smile.

“Yeah?” he asks. He’s smiling so brightly that Seungyoun hesitates for a moment.

“Do you want to switch rooms?” he asks. Hangyul’s smile dims slightly in confusion.

“Switch rooms?” Hangyul lowers his phone and furrows his eyebrows. He frowns, “What do you mean?”

Seungyoun glances at Yohan’s figure in the distance and shrugs.

“You know,” he says. He shrugs as nonchalantly as possible as if he doesn’t care very much about what Hangyul decides. “We can switch so that you can have a double room with _Yohan_. You know?” He puts a little too much emphasis on Yohan’s name.

Hangyul blinks at him rapidly.

He looks terribly confused.

And then, the realization dawns on him like a lightning strike. He gasps.

_“Oh.”_

Seungyoun nods his head, “Yeah.”

Hangyul scratches the back of his neck, awkwardly.

He clears his throat.

Seungyoun doesn’t know why he hesitates for so long, but Hanguyl’s eyes dart around the hotel’s lobby like he’s searching for an excuse. Seungyoun can’t read minds, though, so he doesn’t know what Hangyul is thinking. He doesn’t know why the younger man seems to be hesitant to accept an offer to share a room with his crush.

He can only attribute it to shyness.

“Um,” he starts. He falters as he tries to find his words and Seungyoun doesn’t pay much attention to the way that Hangyul drops his phone into his lap and wrings his hands awkwardly, “I mean, I guess that’s fine. If it’s okay with you, hyung. It’s fine with me if it’s fine with you.” He glances at Seungyoun; a shy, stolen glance. He looks away quickly and continues, “I mean, it’s just that we usually room together, so…” His voice gets quieter, “I don’t want you to be lonely or anything.”

Seungyoun shrugs.

“It’s okay,” he says. “I’m going to be fine.”

Hangyul blinks at him.

Then, he glances over at Yohan, who is happily conversing with the receptionist at the front desk. Seungyoun follows Hangyul’s gaze. Seungyoun absently wonders if he’s trying to charm her into giving them a discount on their rooms. It would be a very _Yohan_ thing to do.

“Does Yohan know that you want to switch?” he asks. His voice is timid.

Seungyoun nods his head.

“I tested the waters with him a couple of days ago,” he says. He leans back in the chair and turns to look at Hangyul with a goofy smile on his lips. “He’s fine with it if you are.”

Hangyul swallows. He nods.

Then, with a small smile that just _almost_ seems awkward, Hangyul teases, “You’re not going to miss me?”

Hangyul’s voice sounds weaker than it usually would, but Seungyoun doesn’t notice. Seungyoun laughs.

He waves his hand and says, “I’m going to be right next door!”

Hangyul nods at that. He presses his lips into a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Right,” he says. His voice only gets quieter, “You’re going to be right next door.”

* * *

Yohan shrugs nonchalantly and throws his arm around Hangyul’s shoulders to guide him to their now-shared hotel room when Seungyoun informs him that they are switching rooms.

It doesn’t seem to be a big deal at all.

But, after they settle into their respective hotel rooms, Hangyul doesn’t want to come with them to check out the bustling event in the hotel’s lobby.

There’s an event for celebrity pastry chefs in the lobby—the entire hotel lobby smelled like vanilla when they entered and there were people crowded around small tables. Hangyul sounded excited to check it out when they entered the hotel, but he claimed he was too tired to leave the hotel room when Yohan laid down on the bed next to his and asked if he wanted to come with them to see the desserts in the lobby.

Even when Seungyoun asked him, he refused. He rolled over on his bed and shook his head, insisting that he still had to get his things settled. And while both Seungyoun and Yohan could see that Hangyul had already finished unpacking his things, neither said a word.

They shared a weird look and decided to wander down to the lobby together. They could report back to Hangyul about all the snack samples he missed out on when they returned.

“Do you think there’s something wrong with Hangyul?” Yohan asks as they survey the treats spread out on the tables. He sounds concerned, but his eyes are busy staring at a cupcake with interest.

The pastry chef standing behind the cupcake display is a pretty girl who looks a little bit anxious to be surrounded by so many people. When she catches Yohan’s eye, though, she motions him over to her table. Yohan quickly pulls Seungyoun with him, his hand wrapped around his wrist.

“What do you think is wrong with Hangyul?” Seungyoun asks.

Yohan shrugs in response to the question, too preoccupied with thanking the chef for the cupcake to give Seungyoun a proper answer. He shoves half of the cupcake into his mouth, nearly swallowing it whole, and turns to look at Seungyoun.

He says, “He skipped out on checking out desserts. Hyung, he’s _Hangyul_.”

“Yeah, that’s weird. Hangyul loves sweets,” Seungyoun muses. He frowns, his mind flipping through things that could have happened between Hangyul being excited for desserts when they entered the hotel to the moment that he decided that he didn’t want to go. He comes up with nothing.

Yohan breaks the remaining bit of the cupcake in half and shoves it into Seungyoun’s mouth.

Seungyoun chews on it thoughtfully.

He tilts his head, “Did anyone say anything to him?”

Yohan frowns. He pulls Seungyoun away from the cupcake display.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “It’s only been you and me who have interacted with him since we got into the hotel. Hangyul isn’t the type to get upset over something small, though.”

“Sometimes he gets pouty because he doesn’t know how to express himself,” Seungyoun muses.

Yohan tilts his head. He stops walking and turns back to look at Seungyoun.

“He does?” he asks. “What do you think he’s having trouble saying?”

Seungyoun hesitates. _Did Yohan, his crush, say something that put him off while they were unpacking?_ That isn’t something that he can say out loud to Yohan, though. Yohan isn’t supposed to know.

Seungyoun’s gaze moves past Yohan and his eyes brighten at a display behind Yohan. He sees a chance to change the subject.

 _“Oh,”_ Seungyoun says. His eyes are focused on a lineup of fancy Belgian waffles. Softly, he murmurs, “Hangyul loves waffles.”

Yohan raises an eyebrow at him. He follows his gaze.

“He does?” he asks. Seungyoun nods.

“Yeah,” he says. His eyes never leave the display, “Do you remember how we said that we used to live down the street from one another as kids? He used to come over to my house every morning when we were kids to steal a waffle to shove in the toaster before school because his family _never_ bought them.”

Yohan tilts his head.

“Do you think we can bring one back up for him?” Yohan looks down at his feet, “He seems a little sad if I’m honest. I don’t want him to be sad on our trip.”

Seungyoun frowns and looks around. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else asking for takeaway boxes and Seungyoun doubts that any of the pastry chefs came prepared with the expectation that someone would have a sad friend locked up in their hotel room. He turns back to Yohan with a frown.

“I’m so sorry for cutting into your conversation,” comes a man’s voice from behind them. Both Seungyoun and Yohan jump in surprise. They turn around to face a tall, handsome man. He’s dressed in a suit and he looks important. It takes a glance at the silver nametag on his suit to confirm that— _Han Seungwoo, Director of Client Experience._ He has a kind smile on his lips, “Did you want to bring something upstairs for someone?”

Yohan hesitates, blinking rapidly at the man.

Seungyoun awkwardly nods. He nudges Yohan, snapping the younger man out of his staring.

“Um, yeah,” Yohan says. “That would be nice. If we could.”

Seungwoo smiles at them. “You definitely can,” he says. His voice is so soft and kind that Seungyoun has an absent thought that this guy suits his job perfectly.

“Is that okay?” Yohan asks.

Seungwoo nods.

“Of course,” he says. “Even if you couldn’t, I’d be happy to make an exception for you. I would only want our patrons to have the best experiences after all.”

Seungyoun stares at him. _Is he flirting?_

“So, we can take something upstairs?” Seungyoun asks. Seungwoo directs his smile to Seungyoun.

He says, “What did you want? I’ll ask the chef to pack it away for your friend.”

Yohan points over to the waffle display.

“Some waffles,” he says. Then, quietly, he adds, “if that’s okay.”

Seungwoo chuckles. “Of course,” he says. “I’ll ask them to package it for you.”

And then, he disappears.

Yohan turns to look at Seungyoun with his eyes blown wide in shock.

He whispers, “That guy is _beautiful_.”

Seungyoun’s eyes widen. _No! You’re supposed to fall in love with Hangyul!_

“He’s okay,” Seungyoun says, quickly. “Hangyul is cuter.”

Yohan gives him a funny look. Seungyoun clears his throat when he realizes what his words imply.

“You’re cute too,” Seungyoun adds. “You’re both so cute.”

Yohan raises an eyebrow, but before he can say anything, Seungwoo returns to them with a neatly wrapped, white box in his hands. He places a hand on Yohan’s shoulder to get his attention and hands him the box. Yohan turns his head, surprised.

“He’s right. You’re very cute,” Seungwoo says. Yohan flushes. Seungwoo chuckles, “I hope your friend likes the waffles. Our pastry chefs are very good at what they do.”

Yohan looks like he might be on the verge of passing out. Seungyoun sighs.

“Thank you, Mister Han. I’m sure he’ll love it.” Seungyoun says. He takes Yohan’s hand and tugs him away. “Come on, Yohan, let’s get that back to Hangyul before it gets cold.”

 _Damn Yohan and his cute face,_ Seungyoun thinks. _Damn Yohan and his ability to charm cute boys._

* * *

For the record, Hangyul immediately brightens up when he opens the waffle box (which Yohan forces into Seungyoun’s hands for Hangyul). And Seungyoun brushes off the thought that Hangyul looks best when he’s smiling. It isn’t a weird thought. That’s a fact.

Everyone knows that Hangyul’s smile is contagious. _And beautiful._

* * *

Yohan knocks on the door of Seungyoun’s hotel room when it’s almost midnight.

They retired to their rooms after watching a few shitty soap operas on the hotel’s cable television, and Seungyoun doesn’t think he has been gone from Yohan’s hotel room long enough for something urgent to have happened. Still, he opens the door in record time.

Yohan offers him a grim smile when he opens the door.

“What’s wrong?” he asks. Yohan glances over at the door next door, the hotel room he shares with Hangyul he shrugs.

“I think switching rooms with me was a bad idea,” Yohan tells him.

Seungyoun blinks at him.

“I’m sorry?” he asks. Yohan scrunches up his nose.

He repeats himself, “I don’t think you should have switched rooms with me, hyung.”

Seungyoun frowns, “Why?”

Yohan sighs.

“You know that Hangyul is bad at sleeping in unfamiliar places, don’t you? He keeps tossing and turning and he can’t fall asleep because he isn’t in his bed at home,” he says. Yohan shoves his hands into his pockets and rocks back on his heels, “I honestly don’t know how to help him. I think you should go to comfort him.”

“Me?” Seungyoun tilts his head, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“You’re the most familiar thing to him here,” Yohan says.

Seungyoun frowns. “Aren’t you, too?”

Yohan laughs, but it’s a strange sound that almost seems mocking.

He shakes his head with an amused smirk on his lips.

“Hyung,” he says. He crosses his arms over his chest and looks Seungyoun up and down like there is something he knows that Seungyoun doesn’t before he shakes his head again. “We might all be best friends here, but I’m not the guy he grew up with, hyung. You’re more familiar to him than I’ll ever be. I think he needs you, now.”

Seungyoun frowns, confused. _There’s something strange here. What does Yohan know that he doesn’t know?_

Something jolts in his mind.

He shoots Yohan a look, “This better not be because you’re going out to look for that director guy,” he says.

Yohan rolls his eyes.

“I honestly value our friend a lot more than I value interactions with a hot stranger, hyung,” he says. He scrunches up his nose at the mere thought. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay in your room.”

Yohan glances over at the door to his room, again.

Quietly, he adds, “I think you should go over with him.”

“I’m not saying you would pick a hot stranger over our friend,” Seungyoun mutters. He sort of _did_ imply that, though. Seungyoun looks down at his feet, feeling a little guilty. He sighs, “Why don’t you know how to comfort Hangyul when he can’t sleep, Yohan?”

Yohan scrunches up his nose.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asks. “He never seems to have very many issues when you’re in the room with him, and I don’t want him to be tired and unable to hang out with us tomorrow when we actually start doing the things we planned for this vacation.”

“Have you never dealt with something like this before?”

Yohan tilts his head in thought.

“Honestly, every time that we’ve gone trips together as three, he had you by his side. We don’t have issues with Hangyul not sleeping when you’re in the same room as him, I’ve noticed.” He pauses, “It’s not quite the same when Hangyul and I go on trips together, but we don’t actually leave the city without you often enough for me to become comfortable with helping him sleep.”

_He didn’t know that._

Seungyoun sighs and cracks the door open to let Yohan in.

“Fine, I’ll go see what I can do,” he says. He shoots Yohan a look over his shoulder. “This isn’t a scam for you to get your own room, right?”

Yohan dives face-first into the blankets on the single bed.

He throws up his hand and two fingers in a peace sign from his position on the bed. “I promise I don’t have any sketchy intentions, hyung!”

Seungyoun takes a deep breath.

“I’m doing this for Hangyul,” he says.

It sounds like it’s a warning. It sounds like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s doing it for Hangyul, but he isn’t sure that he knows how he feels about the revelation that Hangyul _doesn’t_ have problems sleeping when he is around. _Is it because they grew up together?_

Seungyoun warns his roommate, “If you have any sketchy intentions, you can rot with the reminder that I’m doing something out of the kindness of my own heart and you’re taking advantage of it, you demon.”

Yohan laughs at that.

“I know,” he says, his voice muffled by the cotton duvet. “Everything you do is for Hangyul. You would do anything for Hangyul.”

Seungyoun pretends he doesn’t hear him as he leaves the hotel room.

* * *

Yohan left the door unlocked, knowing that one of them would come right back to the hotel room. Seungyoun is careful when he turns the doorknob of Hangyul’s hotel room.

Quietly, Seungyoun pokes his head into the room to survey the surroundings. He moves silently, not wanting to shake Hangyul from his sleep, in the off chance that the younger man managed to fall asleep in the time that Yohan spent fetching Seungyoun from next door.

But as quiet as he is, Hangyul is a light sleeper.

As quiet as he is, Hangyul quickly notices him entering the room when the light from the hallway streams into the room. After all, Hangyul is curled up in the bed closer to the door. He moves the blanket away from his face and looks up from where he is lying down on his bed.

He squints in Seungyoun’s direction.

“Seungyoun hyung?” Hangyul murmurs. He sounds tired. His voice is low and raspy.

“Hey,” Seungyoun greets quietly. He closes the door behind him with a soft click and approaches Hangyul. “Yohannie told me that you couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh,” Hangyul murmurs. He rolls over in his bed and he huffs, “I told him not to go get you.”

Seungyoun chuckles. _It’s cute._

He shakes his head, “Why shouldn’t he get me?”

He takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” Hangyul replies. “In case you were already sleeping or something. I didn’t want you to have to come to me when you were already comfortable.”

Seungyoun sighs.

He inches closer to Hangyul, just close enough to be able to affectionately ruffle his hair. Hangyul pouts when Seungyoun touches his hair, like a kicked puppy. Seungyoun smiles fondly.

“Don’t be like that,” he says. His fingers stay in Hangyul’s hair.

“You know I’d come to you no matter what I’m doing if you needed me.”

Hangyul’s eyes flicker over Seungyoun’s expression and when their eyes meet, Hangyul quickly looks away. He looks shy.

“Really?” Hangyul asks.

Seungyoun smiles.

“Of course,” he says. _That’s what friends are for._ He wants to say it, but there’s something that makes him bite down on his tongue. He doesn’t say it. “I don’t want you being too tired to hang out with us when it’s supposed to be our vacation. Yohan was really worried about you, too.”

Hangyul sighs.

“It’s nothing, hyung,” he murmurs. “You know me, I’m just bad at sleeping in unfamiliar places. I’ve been like this for as long as I can remember.”

Seungyoun chuckles. “I know,” he says, “you almost cried when we had our sleepover as kids.”

Hangyul hits his chest gently and frowns.

 _“Hyung,”_ he whines. Seungyoun flashes him a goofy smile.

“What?” he asks, “Am I lying?”

Hangyul pouts.

“You’re _not_ ,” he says, “but you’re not being very nice.”

Seungyoun chuckles. “Not very nice? Me? I don’t know,” he muses, “I think it was pretty cute.”

Hangyul pauses. He looks at Seungyoun.

“You thought it was cute?” he asks.

Seungyoun nods.

“If I remember correctly, I had to hug you to sleep,” he says. He still recalls Hangyul being seven years old and curled up on the other side of Seungyoun’s bedroom. He still remembers waking up to the sound of Hangyul sniffling and he remembers being ten years old, thinking that he needed to hug Hangyul, so he would calm down. “And then, you calmed down and slept like a baby.”

“Will you hug me to sleep now?” Hangyul asks, quietly.

Seungyoun blinks.

“Now?” he asks.

Hangyul looks up at him from under soft blankets with wide eyes, curious. He nods his head timidly. He looks unsure of himself, but there’s something about him that makes Seungyoun unable to say no. He doesn’t know how to say _‘no’_ to those eyes.

Maybe Yohan was right when he said that Seungyoun would do anything for Hangyul.

He swallows.

“Sure,” he says. “If you want me to.”

Without a moment of hesitation, Hangyul opens his arms for Seungyoun to hug him. The older man awkwardly leans down to hug him. Seungyoun is still sitting when he hugs Hangyul and it feels a little odd. Hangyul laughs quietly in his ear.

“Make yourself comfortable, hyung,” he says. “You’re going to do something weird to your back if you fall asleep like that.”

“Oh.”

_Oh, he’s sleeping with Hangyul like this? Now? Like when they were kids?_

Hangyul rolls over to make more space to Seungyoun to fit onto the bed and he gently pulls him into his arms. Seungyoun rolls under the sheets next to Hangyul, and the younger man throws the covers over him. He hooks his leg over Seungyoun and hugs him.

“Does this feel weird, hyung?” he asks, quietly. He sounds shy.

Seungyoun feels a weird skip in his chest; his heartbeat.

It shouldn’t be any different from when they were children.

When they were younger, Seungyoun held Hangyul and cuddled him to sleep so that he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable and lonely in an unfamiliar place. This shouldn’t be unfamiliar to Seungyoun. The only difference is that they’re doing it again after fourteen years and, at twenty-five, Seungyoun feels like there’s something that feels different about falling asleep with someone in your arms.

But this is Hangyul. This is the boy he grew up with. The boy with the bright eyes and sweet, toothy smile that he grew up with. Seungyoun knows it shouldn’t feel weird.

He takes a breath.

Cautiously, he wraps his arms around Hangyul’s waist and pulls Hangyul closer to him.

Almost subconsciously, Seungyoun gently runs his fingers into Hangyul’s silver locks and guides the younger man’s head to rest against his shoulder.

Hangyul immediately snuggles closer to him.

“No,” Seungyoun says. “This is fine. It doesn’t feel weird.”

Hangyul smiles into the crook of Seungyoun’s neck, obviously pleased with Seungyoun’s answer.

“Good,” he murmurs. “I think I can sleep well like this.”

Seungyoun isn’t sure he can sleep well with the unfamiliar erratic beating of his heart.

* * *

The best part of vacationing by the beachside is the refreshing feeling of running across white-sand beaches and the feeling of the water kissing the edge of the shore, gently washing over bare feet. The sunlight is warm and comforting, and Seungyoun likes the way it casts gently over him, comfortable enough to almost lull him into a deep slumber on the beach towel he laid out on the sand.

And he would have fallen asleep if not for Yohan sitting right beside him, smearing an unreasonable amount of sunblock on his body. Seungyoun furrows his eyebrow, glancing at Yohan from underneath the giant beach umbrella he is hiding under. He lowers his sunglasses and squints at the white cast on Yohan’s arm.

“I don’t think that spreading a litre of sunblock on your body is going to protect you from the sun,” he says. “You might as well be wearing a raincoat or something, Yohan.”

Yohan rolls his eyes at him and holds out his arm.

“Take some,” he says. Seungyoun makes a face.

“From off of you?” he asks. Yohan shrugs.

“Why not?”

“I’m not planning on going in the sun,” he says. Yohan rolls his eyes at him.

“Not even if Hangyul asks you to?” he asks. He glances at Hangyul, who is standing a good distance away from them, surrounded by a bunch of fawning strangers. A girl is standing to his left with a beach ball and Seungyoun thinks they might be trying to coax Hangyul into playing a game with them.

“He has you,” Seungyoun says. “I plan on taking a nap under the sun.”

Yohan keeps his arm outstretched. He shakes it for emphasis, “Take some. I’m going to take that umbrella away from you and watch as you suffer when you burn from sleeping in direct sunlight.”

Seungyoun scrunches up his nose.

“You wouldn’t.”

“You wouldn’t want to test me,” Yohan replies, solemnly. He shakes his arm again. “Take some, hyung.”

Gingerly, Seungyoun swipes his finger over Yohan’s arm and picks up a streak of sunblock. He makes a face.

“Will you admit that you’ve used too much?” he asks.

Yohan huffs. He waves Hangyul down when the younger man turns to look at them.

Hangyul jogs over to them and falls onto his knees in the sand in front of them. His eyes are bright. He looks like an excited puppy and Seungyoun feels his lips subconsciously curve up into a fond smile.

“Hi,” Hangyul says. His smile doesn’t fade. “They want to play beach volleyball. Do you guys want to play?”

Seungyoun grins at him. “Yohan might want to,” he says. “I want to nap.”

Hangyul pouts at him. He turns to look at Yohan.

Yohan shakes his arm at Hangyul.

“I’ll consider it if you take some of my sunblock,” he says. Hangyul makes a face at him.

“From off of you?” he asks. Yohan rolls his eyes.

“You two are exactly the same,” he groans. He turns his arm and smears the excess sunblock on Hangyul’s shoulder blade. “Just help me out here.”

Hangyul pouts at him. He turns to look over his shoulder at the white streak. “I can’t even reach that. I can’t run back out there with a giant smear of sunblock on me, Yohan.”

Yohan lowers his sunglasses and looks at Seungyoun. He tilts up his chin, wordlessly instructing Seungyoun to move. Seungyoun rolls his eyes.

“Come here,” Seungyoun says, “I’ll rub it in for you.”

Hangyul’s expression immediately brightens. He moves so that his back is facing Seungyoun. Seungyoun carefully rubs the sunblock onto Hangyul’s shoulder, smearing it down to his back. And for a moment, Seungyoun is a little distracted by the way Hangyul’s skin looks so smooth. For a moment, he’s distracted by the dark ink on Hangyul’s back. For a moment, Seungyoun loses himself in his thoughts, and his hands move on their own; his eyes are focused on Hangyul’s body.

When he looks up, Yohan is still looking at them from behind sunglasses with a smirk.

Seungyoun makes eye contact with him and almost wants to hit him.

“You should go play with Hangyul and his new friends,” Seungyoun says.

Yohan sniffs.

“Maybe,” he says.

Hangyul, oblivious to their exchange, looks up with a smile. He nods his head.

“You should!” he says, “It’ll be fun, I promise. I need a teammate.”

Yohan laughs, “Why can’t Seungyoun do it?”

“He wants to nap,” Hangyul says, simply. Seungyoun grins.

“What if _I_ want to nap?” Yohan asks. Hangyul scrunches up his nose.

“You never want to nap when we go to the beach,” he says. “That would be too out of character for you. You’re the type of person who would rather hang out with new people, not sit on the beach and sleep. That’s only something that Seungyoun hyung would do.”

“I don’t know if you’re insulting me or defending me,” Seungyoun mutters.

Hangyul flashes him a cheeky smile and shrugs.

“It’s okay if you want to sleep, hyung,” he says. “It just makes you a little boring.”

“Am I boring?” Seungyoun pretends to pout. Hangyul laughs.

“No,” he says. “You’re very cool.”

Yohan rolls his eyes. “Okay, stop flirting, you two.”

“We’re not flirting,” Seungyoun mutters. Hangyul just smiles awkwardly at him.

“Do you want to play?” he asks Yohan.

Yohan shrugs. “I guess,” he says. “Give me a bit and I’ll come down with you. Tell them you roped me into it, but if they want to start without me, they’re free to do so.”

Hangyul beams at him.

“Awesome,” he says.

He jumps up to his feet and runs down to where his new friends are waiting for him. Seungyoun and Yohan watch his backside as he becomes smaller, running further away from them.

Yohan crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his beach chair. He hums.

“He doesn’t realize that they’re flirting with him,” he says.

Seungyoun blinks.

“They’re flirting with him?”

Yohan laughs. He nods his head and gestures vaguely to the group of men and women surrounding Hangyul.

“Look at the girl to his left,” he says. “She keeps stepping closer to him and leaning towards him. And the guy standing behind her, too. He keeps making faces at Hangyul.”

Seungyoun furrows his eyebrows and studies them for a moment. _Yohan is right. They’re acting weirdly._

“Hangyul is a popular guy,” Seungyoun remarks.

Yohan laughs.

“Of course,” he says. “Hangyul is one hell of a catch. Of course, he would be a popular guy. He’s standing shirtless on the beach, he’s literally a magnet.”

Seungyoun stares at Hangyul for a moment. He supposes that Yohan is right.

Hangyul sort of commands attention no matter where he is. He has an attractiveness that simply can’t be explained. It’s a charm that has people turning their heads to look at him whenever they see him. And when he’s standing on the beach without a shirt on with his sexy, smooth skin and tattoos exposed to the world, Seungyoun can’t imagine someone _not_ turning their head to look at Hangyul when he passes by.

His mind takes a moment to process Yohan’s words because he’s busy admiring his friend.

“Wait,” he says. He turns to look at Yohan. He lowers his sunglasses and squints at Yohan, “You said that he’s one hell of a catch,” he says.

Yohan looks at him like he’s just said something stupid. He nods his head in a way that makes Seungyoun feel like an idiot—it’s the kind of nod that is reserved for when people reiterate obvious facts. (Seungyoun _supposes_ that Hangyul being one hell of a catch would be considered obvious information.)

“Yes,” Yohan says. “Anyone with eyes can see that Hangyul is one hell of a catch.”

Seungyoun squints at Yohan. “Would you date him?”

Yohan gives him a funny look.

“Would I date him?” he repeats incredulously, “Wouldn’t _you_?”

Seungyoun is taken aback by the question. He blinks rapidly.

This backfired on him quickly, but he needs to figure out how to make the topic about Hangyul and Yohan again. He furrows his eyebrow and frowns at Yohan.

“I mean,” he says, “I guess. Who wouldn’t?”

Yohan raises an eyebrow at him and Seungyoun is suddenly overwhelmed with the need to prove his point. He tilts his head and gestures towards where Hangyul is standing on the beach.

He says, “I mean, look at him. He’s beautiful and he’s a good sport. He’s super likeable, which you can clearly see because he got people to like him in like…” He glances down at his watch, “We’ve been on the beach for under half an hour.” Seungyoun continues speaking, “He’s also got a great personality and he gets along with kids. He uses all his free time to volunteer at all the community places he can find, to the point that he barely has any free time outside of work. He’s so nice that the staff at the pet shelter he volunteers at had to _plead_ him to take a vacation for himself. He only thinks of others and he isn’t selfish. Not to mention the fact that he has a beautiful smile and it’s one of those smiles that are _so_ breathtaking that you almost have to doubletake whenever he smiles at you. He’s like the _perfect_ guy to take home to your parents and introduce them as a boyfriend or something. Who wouldn’t want to date him?”

Yohan gives him a look. “Right.”

Seungyoun doesn’t know why Yohan is looking at him like that.

He blinks rapidly.

“What?” he asks. “Did I say something wrong?”

Yohan purses his lips and shrugs.

“No, you didn’t. You’re right,” he says. Seungyoun blinks at him.

Yohan chuckles.

“It’s nothing, hyung,” he says. He gets up from his seat and stretches. He groans when his joints pop. “I guess I’ll just go and play some beach volleyball with _Mister Not-Only-Beautiful-But-Has-A-Great-Personality_.”

And when Yohan jogs away from him, Seungyoun is left staring at the open bottle of sunblock that he left behind. He feels oddly weighed down by Yohan’s mysterious words. Seungyoun reaches to close it and he frowns when he touches the bottle and suddenly flashbacks to rubbing sunblock on Hangyul’s back. Suddenly, too clearly, he remembers the way Hangyul’s skin felt beneath his hands.

He swallows.

It’s nothing.

It’s just that Hangyul is perfect. It’s nothing weird. It’s normal to compliment your friends so aggressively.

He just wanted Yohan to see how perfect Hangyul is.

 _That’s perfectly normal,_ he thinks. _He’s just helping out a friend with his crush._

* * *

Helping Hangyul out with his crush turns out to be a lot more difficult than Seungyoun wants it to be.

Unfortunately for Seungyoun, there are a lot of things that just sort of wedges itself into the middle of his plans. While he thought that the hardest part of all of his plans would be making Hangyul work up the courage to actually confess his feelings, the biggest problem happens to be the director they met at the hotel on their first day. Seungwoo makes his appearance again when Yohan is stressing out about how the tour that they scheduled with a guide didn’t actually work out.

Somehow, he was at the right place at the wrong time and he overheard Yohan complaining to Hangyul in the hotel’s lobby about how their tour in a local cave wouldn’t be possible without a guide.

Their booking didn’t go through because of a bug in the system, the receptionist regretfully informed them, and that meant they wouldn’t have a guide for their trip. She also added that the hotel couldn’t be responsible for them if they travelled into the cave without a guide and got hurt. Going against her advice would, unfortunately, void their vacation insurance and they couldn’t risk it.

But they find out that Seungwoo has all the knowledge that a _Director of Client Experience_ of a popular hotel in a vacation resort should have. Quite honestly, as impressive as it is that Seungwoo is very obviously good at everything, Seungyoun isn’t very pleased with that.

Seungwoo is handsome and lovely. Seungwoo is very kind and has a very nice smile. Seungwoo is so kind that he offered to be their tour guide to the cave, and that is _so_ kind of Seungwoo. It’s so _very_ lovely of him, and Hangyul and Yohan were both thrilled to have someone guide them. He’s so informative and he knows what he’s talking about when he interprets the carvings in the stone walls.

Seungwoo is _so_ nice.

Seungwoo is lovely and perfect and wonderful. He’s the type of guy that anyone would fall for. (Not quite in the same way that everyone would fall for Hangyul, though. It’s just a little bit different.)

Seungyoun would be _delighted_ to run into someone as kind as Seungwoo in any other circumstance, honestly. Except, Seungwoo informs them that during the summer seasons, the water rises above ground level in the cave and they need to walk alongside the edges to explore the cave if they don’t want to get their clothes wet.

And that wouldn’t be too big of an issue, honestly, except it is because Seungwoo is super nice and he is holding Yohan’s hand to guide him through the cave, making sure that he doesn’t fall into the water.

Following Seungwoo’s recommendation that they should be walking in pairs, Seungyoun is paired up with Hangyul and they’re walking side-by-side just a few steps behind Seungwoo and Yohan. _They’re_ also holding hands, but Seungyoun’s eyes are focused on the pair walking in front of them.

_What kind of important hotel person has enough free time to take some guests into a big, scary cave?_

Seungyoun scrunches up his nose and nudges Hangyul gently.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” he asks. His voice is quiet and he’s trying his best to make sure that he can’t be heard by Yohan and Seungwoo. The echo in the cave isn’t doing him very many favours, but the rush of the water near their feet is just loud enough to mask the echoing. “He’s shamelessly flirting with Yohan. I’m not even the one who likes Yohan and I think I’m a little annoyed for you. Don’t you think it’s weird? They just met and they’re acting like they’ve known one another for years.”

Seungyoun’s words are met with silence.

For a moment, he thinks that Hangyul simply didn’t hear him because he was speaking too quietly. Or maybe, Hangyul is too busy staring at them because he is upset. Seungyoun feels a weird clench in his gut. He doesn’t like the idea of Hangyul being upset over an unrequited crush.

But when he turns to look at Hangyul, confused as to why the younger man isn’t responding, he catches Hangyul’s eyes on him. Their eyes meet and Hangyul jolts in surprise.

“Oh,” he whispers. “Sorry, were you talking to me, hyung?”

Seungyoun blinks.

Hangyul continues, “I wasn’t paying attention. What were you saying, hyung?”

Seungyoun frowns.

He shrugs off the strange fluttering feeling that embraced him at the very moment that his eyes met with Hangyul’s. Instead of acknowledging the feeling of butterflies fluttering in his stomach, Seungyoun gestures vaguely with their entwined hands to where Seungwoo and Yohan are walking in front of them.

“Them,” he says. “Isn’t it bothering you that he’s flirting with Yohan?”

Hangyul follows his gaze, looking a little dazed. He frowns.

“Why would I be…?” Hangyul’s eyes fall onto Yohan’s figure and then moves down to where his hands are tightly locked with Seungwoo’s hand. Realization flickers in his eyes. He shrugs, “It doesn’t really bother me.”

“Why not?” Seungyoun frowns. “I think it would bother me. He’s too close to him.”

Hangyul scrunches up his nose and tilts his head. He studies them.

“I don’t think it’s too much of an issue,” he says. “It’s not like they’re making out in front of us.”

Seungyoun blinks hard at him.

“It really doesn’t bother you that Yohan seems to be liking the fact that this guy is flirting with him?” Seungyoun furrows his eyebrows, confused. “Do you need them to be flirting to the extent of like… suddenly making out in front of you to feel upset about this?”

Hangyul chuckles.

“He has a name, hyung,” he says.

 _Hangyul is completely avoiding the topic at hand._ Seungyoun frowns.

“I do not want to acknowledge him by his name if it’ll upset you that he’s flirting with Yohan,” he says.

Hangyul laughs at that. It sounds too lighthearted for someone that Seungyoun was afraid would show signs of jealousy. Hangyul seems completely unbothered and it’s weird. _Almost like… he doesn’t like-like Yohan._

Seungyoun shakes his head. _But he said he did. Hangyul has no reason to lie to him._

“It doesn’t upset me, hyung. Yohan can do what he wants,” he says. “It has nothing to do with me.”

Seungyoun looks at him and frowns.

“It doesn’t?” Seungyoun tilts his head, “But…?”

Hangyul shrugs. He squeezes Seungyoun’s hand in his own.

“I think it would be weirder if you were the one holding hands with Seungwoo hyung.”

Seungyoun blinks at him. “Why would you say that?”

Hangyul shrugs. He’s quiet for a moment.

Then, he glances down at where his hand is linked with Seungyoun’s. He purses his lips.

“It’s just a feeling,” he says. “I don’t know why I think that.”

“Oh,” Seungyoun mutters. Hangyul glances up at him from underneath long lashes.

Even in the darkness of the cave, Seungyoun can see each individual lash in the light. The ray of light from the flashlight is just enough to accent Hangyul’s face. Strangely, he looks pretty even in this light.

Seungyoun feels his heart thudding in his chest. It’s unfamiliar. It’s strange.

 _Hangyul looks cute when he’s staring at him like that._ Seungyoun loses himself in his thoughts for a moment.

He swallows.

“Um,” he murmurs. He tears his eyes away from Hangyul and he clears his throat, “We’re going to lose Seungwoo hyung and Yohannie if we keep walking so slowly.”

He feels his hands getting clammy and his heart weirdly pounds in his chest. Suddenly, he can’t look Hangyul in the eyes.

“Come,” Seungyoun says, “Let’s catch up to them.”

He takes a long stride away from Hangyul. He knows that he is walking a little too quickly for someone navigating the inside of a cave—the rocks beneath them are too slippery for him to be walking so fast. But he can’t look Hangyul in the eyes and his heart is pounding in his chest. It’s a strange feeling that makes him want to run.

He can’t run, though. So, he chooses to speed-walk.

Seungyoun unlinks the hand that is holding Hangyul’s when they’re a little too far apart to comfortably hold hands.

And as soon as he lets go of Hangyul’s hand, the younger man takes a step in the wrong direction and slips on the water-slicked surface.

He loses his balance and stumbles.

 _“Seungyoun hyung!”_ Hangyul cries out.

His yell is loud enough to catch the attention of Seungwoo and Yohan. It echoes in the cave. In shock, they both turn around to look at them.

But Seungyoun pays no attention to the way they rush towards them. With his eyes focused only on Hangyul, Seungyoun tightens his grip on Hangyul’s hand and wraps his arm around the younger man’s waist, pulling him back.

It’s just enough for Hangyul to regain his grip on the rocky ledge. Seungyoun tightens his grip around him, stabilizing him in his arms.

“Hey,” he says, softly. “You’re okay. I got you, I got you.”

Hangyul makes eye contact with him, wide eyes peering at him. He looks so shaken that Seungyoun immediately feels a pang of guilt for having let him go. Swallowing the feeling, Seungyoun focuses on trying to make Hangyul feel better; on calming the younger man.

Seungyoun offers him a soft smile. “You’re okay,” he whispers. “I’m sorry I let go.”

Hangyul takes a moment to register his surroundings and the fact that he didn’t fall.

It takes him a moment to realize that he’s in Seungyoun’s arms. When he gathers himself, Hangyul moves his hand, locking their fingers together again.

He bites back a small, shy smile. He murmurs, “Thanks, hyung.”

Seungwoo steps forward and peers at them. He isn’t holding Yohan’s hand anymore.

Seungyoun nearly jumps when he realizes that Seungwoo and Yohan are standing right behind them. He turns to look at them with wide eyes. He catches Yohan’s eyes—there is a flicker of curiosity in his eyes, he looks like he knows something Seungyoun doesn’t.

Seungyoun immediately looks at Seungwoo, avoiding Yohan’s eyes.

Unlike Yohan, Seungwoo is looking at Hangyul. He looks worried out of his mind. His eyebrows are furrowed together and there is a frown on his lips.

“Are you okay?” Seungwoo asks Hangyul.

Hangyul nods his head. He raises the hand that is holding onto Seungyoun’s and smiles.

“I’m okay,” he replies, timidly. “Seungyoun hyung caught me before I fell.”

Seungwoo smiles at them, the relief is visible in his eyes when he relaxes.

“Your boyfriend’s reflexes are impressive,” Seungwoo says.

Seungyoun’s eyes widen. He immediately feels the need to argue because _Yohan is standing right there._ But Yohan raises an eyebrow at him and Hangyul just smiles. He squeezes Seungyoun’s hand and Seungyoun falls mute.

“Thank you,” he says. Then, scratching the back of his neck, he says, “Can we leave now?”

Seungyoun’s head spins the entire time Seungwoo guides them out of the cave.

* * *

Seungyoun forgets about it, the whole thing where Hangyul just accepted that Seungwoo called him his boyfriend. They don’t really see Seungwoo around the hotel very much and, without the older man’s face as a reminder, Seungyoun conveniently forgets about the way that he was mistaken as Hangyul’s boyfriend. It helps that Hangyul acts perfectly normal around him. Seungyoun supposes that it isn’t that big of a deal—it isn’t anything they need to take seriously; it isn’t anything they need to take to heart.

Or at least, that’s what he thinks.

Yohan, on the other hand, keeps stealing glances at him whenever he has a chance. He keeps looking at him with the same thoughtful eyes he had in the cave. Seungyoun pretends he doesn’t notice it for the most part—and for the better part of Yohan’s staring, Seungyoun _actually_ forgets why the gaze was so familiar.

It all comes back to him like a wave crashing over him, though.

Metaphors aside, a wave _does_ crash over Seungyoun when they come back to the beach. Hangyul finally coaxes him to come to the water instead of hanging out on his beach towel and taking naps, and Seungyoun reluctantly accepts.

As he stands knee-deep in the water, a tide knocks him over and he screams, losing his balance and falling into the water. Hangyul and Yohan are laughing at him and he _very_ quickly becomes a pouting child, sinking into the wet sand.

Yohan’s gaze comes back to him when Hangyul laughs boisterously and picks Seungyoun up from the water and brings him back to dry land. It almost looks funny because Seungyoun is taller than him, but Hangyul wraps his strong arms around him so easily.

Hangyul sits down on Seungyoun’s beach towel with him. The towel isn’t very large—it certainly isn’t big enough to comfortably fit two grown men. So, Hangyul is sitting close enough for Seungyoun to feel the warmth of his skin radiating off of his body. And, quite frankly, for someone who just fell into cold water, cuddling up to Hangyul feels tempting.

Seungyoun doesn’t have the chance to entertain the thought for very long, though.

Hangyul pulls his own towel out of the bag next to them and throws it over Seungyoun’s head. Hangyul is grinning in amusement as he dries Seungyoun’s hair.

“I’m sorry,” Hangyul says between giggles. “I didn’t think you would fall into the water.”

Yohan is hovering just beside them with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“I feel betrayed,” Seungyoun sniffs. Hangyul pats his hair down with a laugh. “You guys were supposed to tell me that there was a giant wave behind me.”

“It wasn’t that big,” Yohan says. He’s smirking— _the little shit._ “You just walk on beaches like a baby deer that just learned how to walk.”

“That’s mean, Yohan,” Hangyul scolds, playfully. Yohan snorts and reaches over to grab the end of the towel to wipe a droplet of water away from above Seungyoun’s brow. “We both know that Seungyoun hyung is cuter than a baby deer.”

Yohan rolls his eyes at that.

“Okay, but you always think Seungyoun hyung is cute,” Yohan retorts.

Hangyul sharply elbows Yohan in response to the remark. He drops the towel from his hands and the weight of the fabric falls over Seungyoun’s eyes, blocking his vision. He can’t see anything, but he can hear Yohan hissing in pain. Confused, Seungyoun flips over the edge of the towel and blinks at his friends.

Hangyul abruptly stops hitting Yohan. They both turn to look at him, guiltily.

“Why do you both look so suspicious?” he asks.

Yohan blinks at him. Hangyul mirrors Yohan’s expression.

Then, quickly, Hangyul flashes him a dazzling smile.

“No reason!” he says. “Nothing is suspicious about us at all!”

Seungyoun begs to differ, but he can’t find it in himself to argue with Hangyul.

Not when Hangyul happily returns to drying his hair.

Seungyoun ignores the way Yohan smirks mischievously at them.

* * *

They’re supposed to be on vacation together, but it turns out that Hangyul is never theirs to keep for very long. It isn’t that Hangyul doesn’t want to hang out with them, it’s just that he’s extremely popular with other groups of friends who are seeking another player for their games. Yohan and Seungyoun quickly lose Hangyul to other groups of friends who _really_ want the handsome boy with silver hair to play with them.

As expected, Hangyul is abducted by another group of excited boys with a volleyball shortly after he dries Seungyoun’s hair and builds a sandcastle with Yohan. He can’t turn down a game, so he hops up to his feet and tells them that he’ll be _really_ quick.

Seungyoun is left with Yohan, mindlessly poking at the sandcastle Yohan built with Hangyul.

“You’re going to break it,” Yohan groans. Seungyoun scrunches up his nose.

“No,” he says, “I won’t.”

Yohan rolls his eyes at him. “Don’t blame me when you destroy Hangyul’s hard work.”

Seungyoun sniffs. “I’m not destruction personified, Yohan.”

“Says the guy who shattered his bedroom window by kicking a football too hard when he was eleven,” Yohan retorts.

Seungyoun gasps, “That was an accident! And you weren’t even _around_ for that!”

“Hangyul told me about it. Accidents are what make you destructive, hyung,” Yohan says, sagely. “If you meant to destroy it, you would just be chaotic.”

“No one intentionally breaks stuff,” Seungyoun mutters. Yohan raises an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you just proving my point?”

“I don’t like you very much right now, Yohan,” Seungyoun replies. His roommate chuckles.

“Who _do_ you like right now?” Yohan asks. His question is quiet and his eyes linger on Seungyoun a little too long for it to be normal. There’s something in his eyes that seems suspiciously knowing, that seems like he already knows the answer to his question. It’s weird because Seungyoun doesn’t know the answer to the question himself.

Seungyoun hesitates.

“What are you talking about?” he asks.

Yohan chuckles and shakes his head. He shrugs.

“I was just asking,” he replies. It’s cryptic and Seungyoun decides he doesn’t like it. Yohan tilts his head up towards the sun and shields his eyes with his hand as he squints at the light. “I was just wondering if you’ve developed a crush on anyone in the past few days or something. You know, since you’ve been dabbling in romance.”

Seungyoun scrunches up his nose in distaste. He shakes his head.

“Love doesn’t come so easily, Yohan,” he replies.

There’s a beat of silence.

“Okay there, Mr. Love,” Yohan snorts. He barely manages to hold back his laugh. He lowers his hand and turns his head slightly to look back at Seungyoun.

Seungyoun throws a handful of sand at him. “Don’t call me that.”

“You _were_ Mr. Love,” he says. He gingerly brushes the sand off of his t-shirt.

Seungyoun rolls his eyes. He says, “I _was_. Not anymore.”

Yohan chuckles. He shakes his head.

“Okay,” he says. “I have a question.”

Seungyoun raises an eyebrow. He hums.

“What is it?”

“It’s for Mr. Love,” he clarifies. Seungyoun scoops up another handful of sand and glares at Yohan threateningly. Yohan chuckles and kicks up some sand at Seungyoun. The grains of sand fly everywhere but they don’t touch Seungyoun. “Come on, hyung!”

Seungyoun leans back on his hands and huffs.

“Fine,” he says. “What is it? What do you want to ask Mr. Love?”

Yohan hesitates for a second.

His eyes flicker over Seungyoun’s face and then, he says, “What should I do when I like someone, but I think he likes someone else?”

It almost sounds familiar.

Seungyoun falls silent. He stares down at the sand in front of him and purses his lips. He thinks about it for a long, quiet moment. Yohan watches him carefully as he thinks—there’s something in Yohan’s eyes that looks suspiciously knowing, but Seungyoun isn’t looking at him, he can only feel his gaze on him.

Seungyoun drags his finger across the sand, thinking. He ponders the possible answers to Yohan’s question.

He doesn’t know what Yohan is thinking. Before they left for their vacation, Yohan told him that he didn’t like anyone. That couldn’t have changed so quickly—even with Seungwoo in the picture. And even if it did, Seungyoun doesn’t recall seeing anything that might suggest that Yohan has competition for Seungwoo’s attention.

He doesn’t know what Yohan is looking for, but he answers with his gut instinct.

“You give up,” he says, simply.

He looks up to gauge Yohan’s reaction to his response.

Yohan’s eyes are focused on him, unrelenting. For a moment, he’s dead silent.

He looks at Seungyoun with a look in his eyes that is so unreadable that Seungyoun almost feels uncomfortable. _Was that the wrong answer? Was that not what he was looking for?_

Finally, Yohan moves. He tears his eyes away.

Yohan tilts his head. He frowns.

“Hm,” he murmurs. “I don’t think that’s an answer you can publish.”

Seungyoun hesitates. His finger stops moving in the sand and he blinks, unable to look Yohan in the eyes.

He sighs.

Quietly, he mutters, “Good thing I’m not Mr. Love anymore, huh?”

Yohan looks at him wordlessly.

Their attention is quickly drawn away from one another by the sound of laughter. It’s loud and bright. Seungyoun recognizes the sound from anywhere. _It’s Hangyul’s laughter._

They whirl around to the direction of the sound, just in time to catch Hangyul almost stumbling as he runs across the sand. His hands are outstretched with two bright coloured popsicle sticks and his eyes are bright. He looks so happy as he runs right to them.

“Hyung! Yohan! I won ice cream for you guys!” Hangyul exclaims as he slides onto the sand in front of them. He looks so proud of himself and his smile is blazing.

Seungyoun’s heart stutters in his chest.

_Ah, shit._

* * *

Not every vacation needs to be spent entirely out in the sun.

Or at least, that’s Yohan’s theory when it comes to travelling with his friends. Seungyoun happens to agree with him when he says that they need at least _one_ day of slacking off inside and doing (almost) nothing. The only one who needs a little bit of convincing to stay inside is Hangyul because he likes the sun too much. Or maybe he just likes running on the beaches, chasing a beach ball a little too much.

Seungyoun thinks it’s cute. Or well, he thinks _Hangyul_ is cute.

But it’s a given that Seungyoun would think that he’s cute. Hangyul _is_ cute. It has nothing to do with the fact that seeing Hangyul running towards him in the sun fluttered his heart.

It has nothing to do with that.

The fact that Seungyoun thinks Hangyul is cute has nothing to do with the fact that Seungyoun is completely spacing out while they’re curled up together on the bed in the hotel room that Yohan and Hangyul were meant to share, watching a run of Yohan’s _Pacific Rim_ DVD for the millionth time. He isn’t watching the movie because he remembers the plot points perfectly.

It has nothing to do with the fact that he can’t take his eyes off of Hangyul, who is half-buried underneath the blankets beside Seungyoun, looking extremely cute and cuddly. It has nothing to do with Hangyul being adorable at all. It’s just that Seungyoun can close his eyes and play the movie scene by scene in his head.

He isn’t distracted for any other reason.

He tries to convince himself that it isn’t anything special. There isn’t any other reason he’s distracted by the way that Hangyul is leaning back against all of the pillows—including the ones collected from Seungyoun’s hotel room—while he focuses on watching a movie that he has seen over fifteen times since Yohan bought the DVD six years ago.

But it’s cute that he’s so focused on the movie because he knows that Yohan likes it.

Something jolts in Seungyoun’s chest when Hangyul turns his head away from the screen and laughs at a line of dialogue from the movie. The lights in the hotel are off and the only source of light around them is from the moonlight streaming through the window and the illumination of the television casting over them. Seungyoun notices that his eyes twinkle a little when he laughs, even in the dim light.

His heart skips a beat when he sees Hangyul’s smile.

It’s quick, but it’s violent and it takes him by surprise. And it’s just as shocking as it was when they were on the beach and Hangyul ran towards them with ice cream in his hands and the most dazzling smile Seungyoun has ever seen in his life.

This time, Hangyul isn’t even smiling at him but he thinks he feels his heartbeat racing.

It’s weird. It’s _so_ strange.

He thinks it might be a belated realization that he might like Hangyul more than he thought he did. He thinks it might be a belated realization that he likes Hangyul more than a friend should.

 _In the same way that Hangyul is so focused on watching the movie because he knows Yohan likes it,_ Seungyoun thinks, _Seungyoun_ is so focused on Hangyul because… _he likes him._

The realization feels fatal.

Seungyoun curses under his breath. His heart never stops pounding.

“You okay?” Hangyul turns his head and looks at him curiously. Yohan isn’t paying any attention to them, but Seungyoun was too loud—Hangyul heard him. When Hangyul turns his head, Seungyoun can barely see him. It’s dark in the hotel room and the light cast from the television isn’t enough.

Seungyoun straightens his posture on the bed and leans back against the headboard. He shakes his head and pretends that he’s watching the movie. He vaguely gestures to the screen with his chin.

“This scene,” he mutters, “it always gets me. No matter how many times we watch it.”

It’s a lie, but he hopes he isn’t as transparent as he feels.

Hangyul makes a funny face at him, but he doesn’t say anything more. He doesn’t look like he doesn’t believe him and Seungyoun takes that as a good sign.

Hangyul simply places a comforting hand on Seungyoun’s shoulder and smiles at him. It’s small and comforting. Then, without another word, he shifts on the bed and leans his head against Seungyoun’s shoulder. Hangyul hugs one of the pillows to his chest and sighs softly.

“It makes me emotional, too,” he says, quietly.

He snuggles up against Seungyoun comfortably. Hangyul is warm and his hair tickles Seungyoun’s neck as he rests against his shoulder, but it isn’t a terrible feeling. Seungyoun likes the fact that Hangyul is leaning against him more than he minds the way that his hair tickles. But Seungyoun doesn’t think he can get very comfortable with the way he can hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He feels like a teenager with a crush on his best friend. Except, he’s twenty-five and he has a crush on his best friend. Except, it threatens to eat him alive because he knows that Hangyul likes someone else. Hangyul doesn’t like him the way that Seungyoun likes him.

It feels bitter, but he relishes in the moments he can have.

At that moment, Yohan turns around on the bed to look at them.

Seungyoun freezes in his spot, tensing up under Hangyul.

“What are you two talking about?” Yohan asks.

He hesitates when he sees Hangyul’s head resting on Seungyoun’s shoulder. His eyes meet with Hangyul’s and a small smile dances across his lips. There’s a brief glimmer of fondness when he looks at them. He turns back around to look at the screen.

“Are you two even watching the movie anymore?” Yohan chuckles. Hangyul nods.

“Of course,” he replies. “I’m as focused as I was the first time that we watched it together.”

Yohan snorts.

Without looking, he reaches back and steals a pillow from Hangyul—who easily lets the pillow go. He shoves it under his head and lays comfortably on the bed.

Yohan hums, “I don’t know, Hangyul… I think you might be more occupied cuddling with Seungyoun hyung, right now. You weren’t cuddling with Seungyoun hyung the first few times we watched it.”

Seungyoun feels his cheeks warming.

“Cuddling doesn’t take that much effort,” Hangyul replies. He clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “If you’re jealous, you should come to cuddle with us.”

Yohan turns back to look at them, amusement dancing in his eyes. He chuckles.

“Me?” he laughs, “I don’t want to third wheel my best friends.”

“It’s not third-wheeling,” Seungyoun mumbles under his breath. Yohan quirks an eyebrow at him.

“It’s not?” he asks. “Are you sure?”

Seungyoun frowns.

“Why would it be?”

“I don’t know…” Yohan muses. He tilts his head thoughtfully, “It feels like it might be, just because Hangyul is looking at you like he’s in love with you.”

Seungyoun doesn’t have the time to register anything, but his heart skips a beat.

His eyes widen, but it doesn’t seem like anyone notices. No one notices, because, in response to Yohan’s teasing words, Hangyul kicks Yohan under the sheets.

Yohan laughs and swats at him.

“I’m kidding!” he exclaims.

He throws his pillow at Hangyul and it hits him square in the face.

Hangyul gasps and whips it right back at him. He pulls himself away from Seungyoun and chases after the pillow when it bounces off of Yohan. Hangyul holds onto the edge of it, smacking the other man.

Yohan shrieks.

“I’m sorry!” he yells when he falls off the edge of the bed as he attempts to dodge Hangyul’s smacks. Yohan hits the floor with a sound _thud!_ that has Seungyoun wincing. Hangyul doesn’t stop hitting him with the pillow. Yohan raises both of his hands in surrender, but he can’t stop his laughter. Between bursts of laughter, he says, “I won’t tease you anymore!”

Hangyul puts his fists on his hips and glares at Yohan. It looks cute because he has the corner of the pillow clenched between his fingers. From the floor, Yohan looks up at him with his eyes twinkling with amusement.

There’s a whisper in the back of Seungyoun’s mind that dares to gently remind him that Yohan’s twinkling eyes don’t make Seungyoun feel the same way as Hangyul’s twinkling eyes.

With his hands clutched over his chest under the blanket, Seungyoun watches his friends.

Something is knowing in Yohan’s eyes, but Seungyoun can only see Hangyul’s back—he doesn’t know what they’re talking about. He doesn’t know what it means for Yohan’s lips to be curving up into such a wicked smile.

The moment ends as soon as it begins. It happens too quickly for Seungyoun to question them. He doesn’t know what he just witnessed.

Yohan climbs back onto the bed and groans when he flattens out on the bed comfortably.

Hangyul flops back on the bed and leans his head back against Seungyoun’s shoulder. This time, he wraps his arms around Seungyoun’s left arm and makes himself comfortable.

Seungyoun’s heart stutters in his chest again.

By the time they settle back into their positions on the hotel bed, they’ve missed fifteen minutes of the movie, but it isn’t a big deal.

They’ve all seen it too many times. They know what happens next.

And quite frankly, Seungyoun thinks that the logic should be applied everywhere.

Unfortunately for him, though, Seungyoun has seen Hangyul so many times—he has seen him so many more times than they’ve seen Yohan’s dumb _Pacific Rim_ DVD—but, the heavy realization of his feelings meaning something _more_ than he expected is a plot twist he didn’t expect in this lifetime, and he doesn’t know what will happen next.

* * *

Whether it’s expected or not, what happens next is that Hangyul falls asleep on Seungyoun’s shoulder halfway through the rest of the movie. And Seungyoun falls asleep with his arm still comfortably wrapped around Hangyul’s waist.

The audio from the movie is background noise as he listens to the sound of Hangyul’s soft breathing. It’s enough to lull him to sleep.

And the silence doesn’t go unnoticed.

As soon as he notices, Yohan quietly slides off the bed to turn off the television. He returns to the edge of the bed to gently lay his friends down in a more comfortable position and pulls the edge of the blanket over them.

Then, he moves to the other bed in the room and falls asleep.

* * *

The last night of a vacation always feels bittersweet. That’s something that never changes.

It’s the end of a journey and it’s the reminder that returning to normal life is inevitable. It’s inevitable, but Seungyoun doesn’t know how likely it is that he’ll return to having a perfectly normal life when he has just been struck with the realization that he has a massive crush on his childhood best friend. He doesn’t think he’s ready for the end of their vacation. Here, it feels like it’s something he never has to acknowledge because for as long as their vacation lasts, Seungyoun can forget about the fact that he urged Hangyul to confess his feelings to Yohan before the end of the trip.

All good things come to an end, though. That includes their vacation.

(It includes Seungyoun’s delusional hope that he doesn’t need to acknowledge his mistakes.)

For Seungyoun and his friends, the last night of any vacation is always spent the same way—sitting on flat rocks by the beach together, under the stars, relaxing in the cool breeze with sparklers in their hands while making childish wishes for their future. It all takes them back to the memories of their senior high school year, relishing in the final moments of their senior trip.

That’s how this trip ends, too.

Or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to end.

Everything works out as it should: the flat rocks are comfortable enough for the three of them to fit on; the breeze is comfortable enough for a thin jacket to keep them warm; the stars are bright in the night sky. Everything is perfect for the end of their trip, except, Yohan forgot their sparklers in the hotel room.

It’s Yohan who runs back to their hotel room to fetch their sparklers (“I forgot them, so I’ll go get them,” Yohan had said as he stood up and brushed off his shorts, “You two can stay here to keep our spot!”).

So, with Yohan back at their hotel room digging through his bags, Seungyoun is left alone with Hangyul on the rocks, looking up at the sky as they wait for Yohan to come back.

They’re sitting side by side on the flat rock, leaning back on their hands as they look up at the sky. Hangyul is sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the rock and he looks thoughtful. Seungyoun can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the younger man, so he just watches as Hangyul counts the stars.

“Hyung,” Hangyul calls.

Seungyoun snaps out of his trance. He looks away.

“Hm?” he pretends he isn’t staring. Seungyoun runs his fingers through his own hair, “What is it?”

Hangyul turns his head and looks at him for a quiet moment. Seungyoun can’t see the look in his eyes, but he can feel Hangyul’s gaze on him. He doesn’t have the guts to turn and meet his eyes, though.

Softly, Hangyul says, “I’m going to miss this.”

Seungyoun blinks. He turns his head to look at the younger man. He frowns.

“You’re going to miss this?” he repeats. Hangyul’s lips curve into a small smile.

He nods his head. He shifts, moving his knees closer to his chest. He wraps his arms comfortably around his knees and rests his chin on the tops of his knees. He closes his eyes.

“Yeah,” he replies. Hangyul hums, “I’m going to miss being on vacation with you.”

Seungyoun blinks at him.

“Hangyul,” he says, “We go on vacation together every year. We’ll probably do it again next year.”

Hangyul chuckles and shakes his head.

“I know,” he says. Something in his voice sounds far away like he’s deep in his thoughts. Hangyul presses his lips together and then sighs. “It won’t be quite like this, though. It’s never exactly the same.”

Seungyoun chuckles. He tilts his head, looking up at the sky.

“Nothing is ever the same as the first time around,” he says. “None of our vacations have been the same. We’re always in different places when we go, but it’s always similar memories, right?”

Hangyul laughs.

“I guess,” he says. “I guess you’re right. For the most part, we’ve changed so much since we came here in senior year, huh?”

Seungyoun tilts his head. He looks at Hangyul.

“What hasn’t changed?” he asks.

Hangyul opens his eyes. There’s something in his eyes that Seungyoun doesn’t know how to read. He’s left staring at the younger man until Hangyul turns his head and makes eye contact with him again.

“What hasn’t changed?” Hangyul repeats, “I don’t know… the way we feel, maybe?”

Seungyoun hesitates. His heart stutters. He takes a breath.

He doesn’t know why he reacts like that.

“About the ocean?” he asks, cautiously.

Hangyul laughs at that. He purses his lips and nods. He’s still looking at Seungyoun as he speaks, and Seungyoun doesn’t know why his heart skips a beat under that gaze.

“Sure,” he replies, “about the ocean. It’s still as beautiful as ever.”

He keeps his gaze on Seungyoun for just a moment longer, still as unreadable as ever. Then, he tears his gaze away and looks back out at the waves crashing in the distance. He exhales a deep sigh while Seungyoun is still staring at him, unsure of what to make of his words.

“Anyway,” he says. Hangyul is looking down at the surface of the flat rock, now. His voice is quiet, “I’ll miss everything—being on vacation with you; playing stupid games with you; falling asleep with you…”

He laughs quietly when he says the last point. He looks down at his hands, shyly.

Seungyoun feels his cheeks heating up. He swallows.

“You’re going to miss… falling asleep with me?” he asks.

Seungyoun is blushing, he can feel it. His heart thuds in his chest.

It’s almost enough to forget that Hangyul likes someone else. _Just almost._

Seungyoun’s eyes widen, “Wait!”

Hangyul startles. He looks at him with wide eyes, mirroring the shocked expression on Seungyoun’s face.

“What is it?” he asks.

Seungyoun feels his hands getting clammy and he resists the urge to wipe them on his shorts. Somewhere in his heart, there is a voice that is screaming for him to take the moment for what it’s worth and run with the memories stored in his heart. He doesn’t _need_ to be a good friend; his brain reminds him. He’s allowed to be selfish for just a few moments, he can hear his thoughts pleading him to keep his mouth shut if only to not break his own heart. Seungyoun ignores his gut instinct, though. He takes a breath, looking at Hangyul.

“Hangyul, did you confess yet?” he asked, “We’re leaving soon. You don’t want to miss your chance.”

Hangyul hesitates. The look in his eye is enough for Seungyoun to know his answer—he hasn’t.

A small part of Seungyoun feels relieved and he hates that he feels that way.

Hangyul purses his lips. He looks at him for a long, quiet moment.

Softly, he asks, “Should I confess?” He keeps his eyes level with Seungyoun’s and something in his voice sounds defeated as if he knows nothing good will come out of it. “Do you think I should?”

Seungyoun swallows the ugly feeling of jealousy that boils in the pit of his stomach.

He nods his head. With a forced smile, he says, “Yeah! You should! You have nothing to lose, Hangyul.”

Hangyul chuckles. He tilts his head, pondering Seungyoun’s words.

“Nothing to lose, hm?” he murmurs. His eyes linger on Seungyoun’s face for a moment too long.

“I think he should know,” Seungyoun says. “Besides, we’re friends before we’re anything more than that! If anything goes bad, I’m sure he can’t hate or you anything. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

Hangyul’s lips curve into a small smile.

“You’ve learned some things from writing for the romance advice department, haven’t you?” Hangyul asks. He looks amused. There’s a glimmer of interest in his eyes, “I don’t know who taught you, though. I think their view on romance might be a little too idealistic.”

A beat of silence.

Seungyoun blinks, confused.

“So, you’re not going to confess?” Seungyoun asks.

“No,” Hangyul says. “I will.”

 _“Oh,”_ Seungyoun says. He tilts his head, confused. He frowns a little, “So, why does my view on romance suck? Or whatever ‘too idealistic’ means? Is that what you’re saying? I’m trying to be supportive, Gyul. I’m not sure I really understand what you’re trying to say…”

Hangyul’s eyes glimmer fondly.

“I like you, hyung.”

_Huh?_

“What?” Seungyoun blinks hard.

Hangyul repeats himself. As calm as ever, he says, “I like you, hyung.”

Seungyoun hesitates. He feels like he’s the main character of a drama and he just heard a record scratch, one that snaps him sharply to reality. Except he’s sure that he heard Hangyul correctly and this _can’t_ be a reality.

(He can’t help but think that he wants it to be real, though.)

Seungyoun reels, his thoughts running through his mind, too many per second. He blinks rapidly as he tries to process everything. It’s harder than it seems. He feels like he’s malfunctioning.

“Wait,” he says. “Wait, wait, you like me?”

Seungyoun must look like an idiot—Hangyul giggles at him behind his hand. He certainly _feels_ like one.

Hangyul nods his head, “Yeah, dummy.”

“Wait,” Seungyoun raises his hands, signalling for Hangyul to stop talking for a moment. He furrows his brows in confusion and frowns, “Wait, wait. I thought you liked _Yohan_.”

Hangyul purses his lips. He nods.

“Yeah,” he says, “I know.”

“But,” Seungyoun falters. He feels his heart racing. He stutters, “You don’t like Yohan?”

Hangyul tilts his head.

“No,” he says, “I like _you_ , hyung.”

Seungyoun sits there, stunned. He doesn’t know what to say.

Hangyul scoots a little closer to him and takes one of Seungyoun’s hands into his own. He clears his throat and looks down at the way Seungyoun’s smaller hands fit into his. He swallows.

“I was talking to Yohan,” he says, softly. “He says that he thinks you like me, too. I’m hoping he’s right.”

Like an idiot, Seungyoun blinks at him rapidly.

He looks down at their entwined fingers.

His voice feels like it’s stuck somewhere in the back of his throat and he isn’t sure he can form a proper sentence. Seungyoun feels his cheeks burning. He feels the warmth of a flush spread across his body.

“Yeah—yeah, he’s right,” he murmurs. His voice sounds so quiet to himself and he isn’t sure he can hear himself properly over the sound of his heart pounding in his chest. “Yohan’s right. I like you.”

That familiar, endearing glitter in Hangyul’s eyes returns. He looks up at him, hopefully.

He leans a little closer and the hands that are holding onto Seungyoun’s tighten their grip.

His voice is so soft when he whispers, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Seungyoun murmurs, “Really.”

He thinks he feels Hangyul learning closer to him. Seungyoun swallows.

“I think I was going to be really upset if you confessed to Yohan,” he whispers. He’s saying useless things, he knows, but Hangyul is moving closer to him and he feels his nerves spiking. “I don’t know, it would have made me feel pretty shitty or something.”

Hangyul’s eyes are focused on his lips, Seungyoun is _so_ aware of it.

They’re sitting so closely together, almost close enough to touch. Seungyoun can feel Hangyul’s breath fan across his cheek. He swallows.

“You’re really close,” he whispers. His heart is pounding in his chest and it’s so loud that it almost seems to echo in his ears. The sound of the breeze rushing past them isn’t enough to mask the sound of his heartbeat. Seungyoun swallows, hard. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Hangyul’s lips curve into a small smile.

“Yeah,” he murmurs. “I do.”

_“Oh.”_

Hangyul quirks an eyebrow at him. “What? Do you not want me to?”

“No,” Seungyoun panics. He shakes his head, “No, I do! I want to kiss you!”

Hangyul laughs. His hand gently rests on Seungyoun’s cheek and he leans a little closer. Hangyul’s thumb brushes over Seungyoun’s lower lip and their foreheads knock together. Hangyul closes his eyes.

“Stay still, hyung,” he whispers. “I’m going to kiss you.”

The first kiss is soft, careful and not rushed. It’s a gentle brush of their lips—to Seungyoun, it’s everything. Hangyul gently tilts his chin up with his fingers and kisses him again. And again. And again.

Seungyoun’s heart feels like it’s running twice its normal speed. He feels lightheaded—like he’s flying.

 _Kissing Hangyul feels right._ It feels like something that he should have gotten used to so long ago, like something that he’ll never get sick of.

Lost in the kiss, Seungyoun tilts his head and pulls Hangyul a little closer. The younger man stumbles from the tug and falls on top of him. He barely catches himself, bracing his weight over Seungyoun with his hands on either side of his head just before he falls. His eyes are wide.

Seungyoun laughs when their eyes meet. He looks at him fondly.

Hangyul leans down to press another quick kiss to his lips. And then, he rests his forehead against Seungyoun’s. He exhales, softly.

“I _really_ like you, hyung,” he whispers.

Seungyoun’s heart pounds in his chest. He whispers, “Me too. I really like you, too.”

The twinkle in Hangyul’s eyes this time is even brighter. Seungyoun wants to kiss him again.

So, he does.

They’re interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the sand.

“I’m _really_ happy for you two,” Yohan’s voice comes from behind them. He already sounds so tired. “But can we please wait on the public displays of affection?”

Surprised, Hangyul immediately moves away from Seungyoun and his hands fly to cover his mouth. He laughs shyly and he kicks his loose slipper at Yohan. The other man dodges easily.

Yohan hops onto the rocks next to them and rolls his eyes. He’s smiling despite his reaction, though.

“Shut up,” Hangyul murmurs. “I’ve been waiting forever for this.”

Seungyoun feels like he’s sitting on clouds. His heart soars.

He thinks that, maybe, he has been waiting for this for a long time, too

* * *

Seungyoun walks through the doors of his office on Monday morning, ready to return to his shitty desk.

It’s oddly kind of exciting.

After a long week away from work, it’s his first day back to work after his vacation. Coming back to work means that he has to give up the nice, spacious office he borrowed from Minhyuk for the week before he left, but it doesn’t feel too bad. He doesn’t feel miserable about it.

 _Coming back to work from vacation_ and _having to give up the nicely air-conditioned, private office?_ It would honestly suck if he were anyone else, but Seungyoun doesn’t hate it too much. He’s giving up a nice office, but it means he doesn’t need to write romance advice anymore.

It feels good.

He’s returning to work to do what he was hired for. He’s returning to his comfort zone— _writing about sports._ Everything is falling back into its place, normal and good. Seungyoun likes it that way.

He walks into the office with his head held high and a little bounce in his step. Seungyoun isn’t ever particularly gloomy in the office, but it seems that the change in his pace is enough for the receptionist to notice. She looks up from her desk when he enters and tilts her head curiously at him.

Seungyoun only offers her a polite smile because he doesn’t know to explain why he feels like he’s walking on clouds. It doesn’t need much explanation—he’s in a good mood because waking up next to his boyfriend is always a good start to the morning.

So, with good vibes pulsing through his body as he walks into the office, Seungyoun thinks he can deal with the crappy blinds for a little longer. He’s okay with going blind from the blazing sunlight—he doesn’t think anything can rival Hangyul’s smile, anyway. And he’ll file another complaint to his management if they won’t fix it in the coming weeks.

If he really thinks about it, he’ll hear Yohan’s voice playing in the back of his mind, telling him that they _should_ have fixed it while he was gone for two weeks. He knows they didn’t, though. So, he doesn’t want to get his hopes up for something that won’t happen. As much as his life changed in the past week, he knows nothing has changed at his office. There isn’t any use in hoping for a miracle when it’s unlikely to happen. He knows his office like the back of his hand—it’s too unlikely.

But, unlikely things aside, Seungyoun isn’t quite ready to see someone waiting for him in the office.

He almost stops dead in his tracks in surprise when he opens the glass door and sees someone already sitting inside. Seungyoun is _always_ the first person to come into the office, so he’s surprised to see someone already. The surprise only doubles when he realizes that it’s someone who doesn’t belong to their department.

Lee Minhyuk, _Mr. Love_ himself, is beaming at him when he walks through the doors.

With a bright tone and an equally bright smile, Minhyuk greets him. “Seungyoun, hey!”

It startles him.

No one in Seungyoun’s shared office ever speaks so brightly in the morning—not even Dongpyo and that kid is a joy to be around at any time of the day. Not only does Minhyuk’s tone shock him, but Seungyoun is also taken aback seeing the older man sitting in the seat next to Wooseok’s desk.

(Wooseok is still on anniversary leave, so Seungyoun _really_ isn’t expecting anyone to be sitting on that side of the office until much later in the day when Dongpyo comes in after his classes.)

Despite the confusion, he offers a polite smile and a wave.

“Hi, hyung,” he says. Seungyoun blinks at him, a little confused. “Why aren’t you in your office?”

“Welcome back, Seungyoun! I was waiting for you,” Minhyuk says, easily. He claps his hands together, a little too excited to see Seungyoun. It’s so early in the morning that Seungyoun is led to believe that Minhyuk is _always_ this happy.

Seungyoun isn’t sure that he’s offering a proper answer to his question, but he brushes it off.

He murmurs, “Oh.”

Minhyuk claps his hands together, happily.

“Dongwook hyung said you were coming back today and I wanted to thank you for taking my job for a week,” Minhyuk says. “In person.”

Seungyoun shakes his head and waves his hands, refusing the gesture.

He walks past Minhyuk towards his desk.

“You really didn’t have to come all this way just to say thank you, hyung,” Seungyoun says. It isn’t that far—Minhyuk’s office is just down the other hall, but Seungyoun feels the need to say it.

(He brushes off the thought that _maybe_ Minhyuk is here because he has nothing to do in his office, all because Seungyoun’s one-week-takeover somehow resulted in tarnishing _Mr. Love’s_ reputation so badly that no one sends any messages anymore. But Minhyuk is still smiling, so that isn’t possible. _Probably_.)

Seungyoun frowns a little and tilts his head. He says, “It isn’t that big of a deal, hyung.”

“I’m grateful!” he exclaims. “Thank you, Seungyoun! Really!”

But it seems that thanking Seungyoun isn’t his main purpose of infiltrating the small office. As soon as the words of gratitude leave his lips, Minhyuk turns around in his swivel chair and grins, “So, what did you learn about love from taking over my job for a week?”

Seungyoun hesitates.

He blinks at the older man as he drops his bag onto his chair. The question almost catches him off guard.

_What did he learn about love?_

Suddenly, all Seungyoun can think of is Hangyul’s smile and the way he looked at him from under his messy bangs just a few hours ago, unwilling to let him go to work. He thinks about the way that Hangyul forced himself to roll out of bed, just to cling onto Seungyoun as he got ready for work. He thinks about the way Yohan stared at them in disgust from the washroom, and he thinks about the way that Hangyul declared that he was rolling right back into Seungyoun’s bed until he got home from work. He thinks about Hangyul and he can’t help the smile that tugs at the corners of his lips.

_What exactly did he learn about love?_

Seungyoun shrugs.

He glances up at Minhyuk, his eyes twinkling with newfound confidence.

“About love?” he asks. Seungyoun smiles, “I learned a thing or two.”

_He learned that, sometimes, love comes easily._


End file.
